w- 


A: 


^^^m^ 
" 


{ 


^-  '< 


BX  5930  .W7  1829 
Wilmer,  William  H.  1782- 

1827. 
The  Episcopal  manual 


; 


THE 

EPISCOPAL.  MAlVUAIi. 

BEING 

INTENDED  AS  A  SUMMARY  EXPLANATION 

OF  THE 

DOCTRINE,     DISCIPLINE,     AND     WORSHIP, 

OP  THE 

AS 

TAUGHT  IN  HER  PUBLIC  FORMULARIES. 

AND  THE 

-WRITIXraS  OF  her  ikPPROVED  DZVINSS. 

TO  WHICH  ARE  ADDED, 

OBSERVATIONS  ON  FAMILY  AND  PUBLIC  DEVOTION, 

AND 

Directions  for  a  devout  and  decent  attendance  on  Public  Worship; 

WITH 

PRAYERS, 

SUITABLE  TO  SEVERAL  OCCASIONS: 

The  whole  being  designed  to  illustrate  and  enforce  Evangelical  Piefif, 
THIRD  EDITION. 


B¥  THE 

REV.  VJUmI^AIH  H.  IM^IIiIIER,  D.  D. 

Eector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Alexandriaj  D.  C. 


'^Stand  yc  in  the  ways  and  see,  and  ask  for  the  old  paths,  where  is  the  good  way 
and  walk  therein,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls,"  Jeremiah  vi.  16. 

«They  have  well  said  all  that  they  have  spoken,  O  that  there  were  such  an 
Heart  in  them."  Deut.  v.  28,  29. 


f3altimnvt: 

PUBLISHED  BY  E.  J.  COALEi 

■WILJdAH  WOODDY,  PBINTER. 
1829. 


DISTRICT  OF  MARYLAND-To  wit: 

BE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  fourth  day  of  June,  in  the  forty-sixth  year 
«8'#<8'^*>'€>  of  the  Inflependence  of  the  United  States  of  America,  E.  J.  Coale 
*^  L  S  *  ^"^  Louden  L,  Townsend,  of  the  said  districi,  hath  deposited  .ia 
<^  '  '  <^  this  office,  the  title  of  a  Book,  the  right  \vhereof  they  claim  as 
<S"8"S^'S''S?^  proprietors,  in  the  words  following,  to  wit: 

"The  Episcopal  Manual,  being  intended  as  a  su.  .j;arv  explanation  of  the  doc- 
trine, discipline  and  worship  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  as  taught  in 
her  public  formularies,  and  the  writings  of  her  approved  divines.  To  which  arc 
added,  observations  on  family  and  public  devotion,  and  directions  for  a  devout 
and  decent  attendance  on  public  worship,  with  prayers  suitable  to  several  occa- 
sions; the  whole  being  designed  to  illustrate  and  enforce  Evangelical  Piety. — 
By  the  Rev.  William  H  Wilmer,  D.  D.  Rector  of  St:  Paul's  Church,  Alexan- 
dria, D.  C. — "Stand  ye  in  the  ways  and  see,  am!  as-k  ^or  the  old  paths,  where  is 
the  good  way,  and  walk  therein,  and  ye  shall  imd  iist  to  your  souls." — Jere- 
miah vi.  16. — "They  have  well  said  all  thut  they  have  spoken,  O  that  there  were 
such  an  heart  in  them."— Deut.  v.  28,  29." 

In  conformity  to  an  act  of  the  Congress  of  tlie  United  States,  entitled  <'An  act  for 
the  encouragement  of 'earning,  by  securing  the  copiesof  maps,  charts,  and  books, 
to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned." 
And  also  to  the  act,  entitled  'An  act  supplementary  to  an  act,  entitled  'An  act  for 
the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  securing  tl.j  copies  of  maps,  charts,  and  booki 
to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  duringthe  times  therein  men- 
tioned.' and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to  the  arts  of  designing,  eagraving;, 
and  ctcbiHg  historical  and  other  prints." 

PHILIP  MOORE, 
Clerk  of  the  Biftrict  of  Marylaw^. 


CONTENTS. 

Preface  and  Introduction 5 

Chap.  1.  History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Chui'ch        -  IS 

2.  On  the  Government  of  the  Church     -        -        -        -  24 

3.  On  the  Nature  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Christian  Ministi'y  29 

4.  On  the  Doctrines  of  the  Chui'ch,  in  general        -        -  45 

5.  On  Original  Sin 50 

6.  On  the  Atonement     --.-.--58 

7.  On  Justification 65 

8.  On  Repentance 78 

9.  On  Faith 81 

10.  On  Divine  Influences 90 

11.  On  the  Sacraments 98 

12.  On  Baptism 102 

The  Mode  of  Baptism 104 

The  Benefits  of  Baptism 107 

13.  On  the  Lord's  Supper 128 

The  duty  of  partaking-  of  it 129 

Its  nature  and  desig-n          -.---.  129 

What  is  professed  tiiereb}'-          -----  130 

-The  qualifications  of  Communicants           ...  132 

Its  benefits 134 

Meditations  and  prayers  before  conse- ">  -.- 

cration  of  Elements  5    ' 

before  going  to  the  altar      -  142 

at  the  time  ofreceiving         -  143 

after  receiving                      -  144 

Address  to  Communicants          -         -         -         ,         -  146 

14.  On  Confirmation 147 

Address  to  Candidates  for  Confirmation     -         -         -  150 

Prayer  to  be  used  by  them 153 

15.  History  of  the  Liturgy 155 

16.  Festivals  and  Fasts 162 

17.  On  Worship       -         - 165 

Exhortation  to  the  Members  of  the  Church        -         -  179 

Concerning  Family  Rehgion       -         -         -         -         -  181 

Conclusion         -        - 186 

Prayers  for  Lord's  day  Morning          -         -        .         -  190 

Evening           -         -         «         -        ^         .  192 

any  morning  in  the  week         -         .         -  195 

any  evening  in  the  week           -         -         .  197 

Prayer  to  be  used  in  private 199 

Directions  for  a  devout  and  decent  behaviour  ^  c)n/? 
in  the  pubhc  worsliip  of  God                           3 

AfiPEKDix  No.  I.   On  the  origm  and  attributes  of  the  Pope  219 

No.  2.  Containing  a  list  of  the  succession  of  ^  oo-i 

American  Bishops  5 

No.  3.  Statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity"^ 

as  held  by   the   Church,  with  some  C  228 
scriptural  proofs  in  support  of  it          3 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2009  witii  funding  from 

Princeton  Tineological  Seminary  Library 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/episcopalmanualbOOwilm 


PREFACE  AND  INTRODUCTION. 


— »►»©  ©  9***" 


IF  any  apology  be  necessary  for  this  undertaking,  it 
may  be  found  in  the  fact,  that  there  is  no  work,  on  a 
similar  plan,  extant.     It  is  not  less  matter  of  obvious 
truth,  than  of  serious  regret,  that  there  exists,  among 
the  members  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  a  great  want  ol" 
information    respecting  their  own  peculiar   principles. 
The  following  work,  therefore,  which  aims  to  point  out 
her  excellencies,  to  illustrate  her  evangelical  character, 
and  to  infuse  into  the  hearts  of  her  children,  a  portion 
of  that  healthful  spirit  which  pervades  all  her  services, 
it  is  hoped,  will  not  prove  altogether  unacceptable  or 
useless.     The  author  is  perfectly  conscious  of  his  ina- 
bility to  do  justice  to  subjects  so  various  and  momen- 
tous, and  especially,  in  so  short  a  summary  as  his  limits 
have  prescribed.     All  that  he  can  hope  to  accomplish  is 
that  some  who  have  not  considered  the  subject,  may  be 
induced  to  bestow  upon  it  an  attention,  in  some  degree 
proportioned  to  its  importance,  and  that,  in  all,  a  desire 
of  making  farther  research  into  those  venerable  docu- 
ments from  which  he  has  drawn,  may  be  cherished  and 
increased. — Wherever  he  could  do  so,  he  has  adopted 
the  language  of  the  church  and  her  approved   writers. 
In  so  doing,   though  he  has  given  to  his  work,  only  the 
merit  of  a  compilation,  and  of  an  attempt  to  bring  into 
Ji  smaller   focus,  the  irradiations  of  piety  and  genius 


VI  fREFACE  AJs-D 

with  wiiich  the  subject  is  enriched,  he  hopes  to  gain  a 
more  solid  advantage,  in  having,  thereby,  fortified  his 
expositions  of  doctrine,  behind  the  acknowledged  bul- 
warks of  the  church. 

In  the  history  of  the  church,  as  in  that  of  nations^ 
there  are  epochas  which  are  esteemed  worthy  of  being 
cherished  with  fond  remembrance,  and  to  which  we  refer 
for  the  test  of  principles;  times  which  tried  men's  souls, 
and  called  forth  genius  and  virtue  from  their  inmost  re- 
cesses.   "We  look  back,  with  enthusiasm,  to  the  sages  and 
heroes  of  our  revolution,  and  consent  to  try, by  theirstand- 
ard,  maxims  of  policy  and  pretensions  of  patriotism. — 
And,  aided  by  the  same  power  of  association,  we  contem- 
plate the  period  of  the  reformation,  the  grand  jubilee  of 
emancipation    to  mankind,    with  veneration  for   those, 
who  nobly  dared  to  attack  the  mighty  colossus  which 
had  so  long  bestrid  and  enslaved  the  world.     The  heroes 
in  this  cause  were  illustrious  men,  "They  counted  not 
their  lives  dear  unto  them,''  but  like  Sampson,  upheaved 
the  massy  pillars,  content  to  fall,  themselves,   beneath 
the  ruins,  that  the  world  might  be  free.     It  moved  them 
not,  though  the  torch,  with  which  they  were  to  illuminate 
mankind,  was  to  light  .up  their  own  funeral   pile:  but 
having  vindicated  by  their  writings,  and  illustrated  by 
their  lives,  the  cause  of  evangelical  truth,  they  joyfully 
sealed  their  last  testimony  for  it  at  the  stake.     Then  it 
was,  that  exalted  talents  and  a  fervid  piety,  refined  in 
the  crucible,  exhibited  their  greatest  strength  and  their 
purest  lustre. 

Whether  it  be  our  object  to  estimate  the  real  stand- 
ard of  orthodoxy,  as  then  believed  and  taught,  or  to 
strengthen  our  own  faith,  hope  and  love,  by  the  contem- 
plation of   the   holy  perseverance   and   fortitude   with 

which  these  martyrs  and  confessors  bore  testimony  to 


INTRO  DUCTIO^^  VII 

the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  we  mav  find  a  deep  interest 
in  those  genuine  records  of  their  doctrines  and  actions. 
To  the  pious  and  humble  inquirer  after  truth,  this  task 
will  furnish  its  own  recompense. 

**To  the  want  of  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  writers  in  question,"  says  a  great  man,  "is  very 
principally  to  be  attributed  that  diversity  of  sentiment 
on  some  most  important  points  of  theology,  and  even 
alarming  departure  from  sound  doctrine,  which  is  too 
prominent  a  feature  in  modern  divinity.  An  attentive 
peruser  of  our  most  eminent  divines  for  the  last  two 
centuries,  will  perceive,  that  each  generation  seems 
gradually,  and  in  some  instances  almost  imperceptibly, 
to  have  deviated  from  the  principles  of  their  immediate 
predecessors,  till  at  length,  when  we  compare  the  now 
commonly  prevailing  conceptions  of  Christianity  with 
those  of  older  times,  we  startle  at  the  contrast." 

The  foregoing  remark,  though  subject  to  many  ex- 
ceptions, is  certainly  too  generally  applicable. — The 
sentim-ent  has  at  least  sufficient  force  to  incline  us  to 
hear  what  those  venerable  records  say  for  themselves. 
Exclusively  of  the  intimate  connexion  which  they  have 
with  our  Episcopal  system,  and  the  consequent  obliga- 
tion on  us  to  honour  them,  it  will  be  found  that  the  more 
accurately  we  investigate  the  lives  and  writings  of  the 
reformers,  the  stronger  ground  for  confidence  in  their 
interpretations  of  scripture  we  shall  derive,  from  the 
discovery  of  their  high  attainments  both  in  learning  and 
in  piety.  In  this  school  we  may  study  with  safety,  and 
with  eminent  advantage  both  to  the  head  and  the  heart- 
There  are  four  works  of  the  reformers  which  most 
clearly  define  the  sense  of  the  church  in  all  matters 
necessarj'   to   salvation,    viz.    the   catechism  of    King 


Vlir  PREFACE  AND 

Edward  VI.  the  declaration  of  doctrines  in  Jewell's 
Apologj;  the  catechism  commonly  called  Dr.  No  well's, 
and  the  Homilies. 

The  Bishop  of  Oxford,  Dr.  Randolph,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  London,  republished  the  three  first  pieces,  in 
a  collection  of  tracts  for  the  use  of  students.  In  his 
preface  he  speaks  of  them  in  the  following  terms; 

"The  catechism  published  in  the  time  of  King  Ed- 
ward VI.  was  the  last  work  of  the  reformers  of  that  reign ^ 
whence  it  may  be  fairly  understood  to  contain,  as  far  as 
it  goes,  their  ultimate  decision,  and  to  represent  the 
sense  of  the  Church  of  England  as  then  established.  In 
this,  according  to  Archbishop  Vv^ake,  the  complete  model 
ef  our  church  catechism  was  at  first  laid.:  and  it  was 
also  in  some  measure  a  public  work^  the  examination  of 
it  having  been  committed  as  the  injunction  testifies,  to 
certain  Bishops  and  other  learned  men;  after  which  it 
was  published  by  the  king's  authority." 

"Jewell's  Apology  is  an  account  of  the  grounds  of 
our  separation  from  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  maintained 
after  that  separation  had  finally  taken  place." 

*'Nowell*s  catechism  is  an  account  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  church  at  the  same  period,  when  it  had  been  restored 
and  established  under  Queen  Elizabeth. — Both  of  these 
works  also  were  publicly  received  and  allowed.  They 
have  also  a  claim  to  the  attention  of  the  reader  both  for 
clearness  of  argument,  and  for  eloquence  of  language." 

The  book  of  Homilies  which  is  recommended  to  be 
read  in  churches,  and  is  declared  by  the  XXXV.  article 
"to  be  an  explication  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  instruc- 
tive in  piety  and  morals,"  is  well  known  to  have  been 
the  work  of  the  reformers.  They  appeared  in  the  reign 
of  King  Edward  and  are  supposed  to  have  been  compos- 
ed by  Cranmer,  assisted  by  Latimer.     The  second  part 


iMhaofiucTJOiV.  IX 

was  published  in  tlie  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  is 
attributed  chiefly  to  Bishop  Jewell.  A  copy  of  these 
Homilies  was  given  to  every  parish  priest  in  the  king- 
dom, who  was  commanded  to  read  them  diligently  and 
distinctly,  that  they  might  be  understood  by  the  people. 
It  is  to  be  wished  that  the  same  practice  were  revived 
at  the  present  day,  and  that  every  member  of  the  church 
would  possess,  and  search  diligently  these  venerable  re* 
cords  of  evangelical  truth.  They  are  it  is  true,  antique 
in  their  garb,  but  on  that  account  the  more  venerable, 
and  it  is  hoped  they  never  will  be  disrobed  of  those 
charms  by  which  they  recommend  themselves  so  power- 
fully to  our  feelings.  Like  the  prayer  book  they  should 
be  considered  sacred  in  every  integral  part.  They  might 
perhaps  be  improved  and  elucidated  by  the  alteration  of 
a  few  expressions,  but  then  they  would  be  no  longer  the 
prayer  book  or  the  homilies  of  the  reformers,  and  are 
thereby  deprived  of  that  power  by  which  they  unite  all 
hearts. 

These  documents  with  the  liturgy  and  articles,  form 
the  acknowledged  standards  of  our  church,  and  exhibit  a 
plain  and  affecting  harmony  with  each  other  and  with 
the  scriptures.  They  are  constructed  with  such  singu- 
lar wisdom  and  moderation,  that  all  who  hold  the  truth 
that  man's  salvation  is  wholly  of  grace,  and  his  perdi- 
tion of  himself,  may  conscienciously  subscribe  to  terms, 
however  they  may  differ  in  their  modes  of  speaking. 
They  exclude  none,  and  as  it  would  seem,  they  intended 
to  exclude  none,  who  hold  the  essential  points  of  truth* 
though  they  who  approach  nearest  to  the  known  senti- 
ments of  the  reformers,  may  find  most  congeniality  in 
the  language  of  the  public  writings  of  the  church  to 
their  own  modes  of  expression. 


X  PREFACE  AND 

There  appear  to  be  two  prominent  errors,  to  which  we 
are  liable  to  be  carried  in  regard  to  the  principles  of  the 
cliurch;  on  one  hand,  to  prostrate  or  undervalue  her 
order  and  institutions,  and  on  the  other,  to  exhaust  all 
our  zeal  in  behalf  of  these  external  concerns,  and  to 
permit  the  spirit  and  essence  of  religion  to  evaporate  in 
this  way.  It  is  the  object  of  this  work  to  guard  against 
both  these  dangerous  extremes;  and,  while  it  endeavours 
to  maintain  the  dignity  of  our  institutions,  and  the  ex- 
cellence of  our  doctrine  and  worship,  it  aims,  also, 
to  inculcate  that  power  of  godliness,  without  which 
all  our  doings  are  nothinj^  worth.  Especially  would  the 
author  entertain  the  hope,  that  the  work  may  tend,  by 
cherishing  the  unity  of  the  faith,  to  cherish  also  the  unity 
of  the  spirit, — that  heavenly  charity,  without  which 
there  is  nothing  left  us  worth  contending  for.  And  he 
would  fain  hope  also,  that  even  those  of  other  denomi- 
nations of  Christians,  who  do  not  concur  with  him  on 
some  points,  will  see  nothing  in  the  following  pages, 
that  is  inconsistent  with  this  profession  of  charity  which 
he  makes,  and  which  he  sincerely  feels  towards  all  true 
Christians.  The  opinions  entertained  by  him  have  been 
deliberately  formed,  and  be  they  true  or  false,  charity  is 
bound  to  believe  them  sincerej  and,  being  sincere,  that 
they  require  him  who  holds  them,  to  maintain  them 
honestly,  and  without  fear. 

Hanc  veniam  petimus, 
Dabimusque  vicissim. 

He  is  ready  to  exercise  freely  the  same  candour  to- 
wards others,  which  he  claims  for  himself,  in  believing, 
that  they  also  are  sincere,  and  therefore  justifiable  in 
instructing  their  own  members  in  their  own  peculiar 
principles.    We  shall  all  come  to  the  unity  of  the  faith^ 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

only  when  we  come  to  Heaven.  In  the  meantime, 
whilst  we  endeavour,  unbiassed  by  party  spirit  or  preju- 
dice, to  learn,  and  if  necessary,  to  contend  for,  the  truth, 
let  us  never  feel  authorized  to  indulge  unkind  sentiments 
or  feelings  towards  those  who  do  not,  and  who,  perhaps^ 
cannot  think  as  we  do.  It  is  certain,  that  the  field  of 
controversy,  among  Christians,  might  be  much  narrowed; 
and  happy  would  it  be  for  the  cause  of  charity  and  reli- 
gion, if  they  would  consent  to  this  compromise,  merging 
their  differences  where  they  can,  and  agreeing  to  differ 
where  they  cannot;  and  if,  also,  when  occasions  occur, 
in  which  they  feel  it  their  duty  to  support  their  particular 
opinions,  and  in  which  they  have  to  touch  the  chords  of 
a  powerful,  and  often  a  morbid,  sympathy,  they  would 
use  the  tenderness  that  becomes  so  delicate  a  task.  "For 
the  time  will  come  (says  the  excellent  Hooker)  when 
three  words  spoken  with  meekness  and  love,  shall  obtain 
a  far  more  blessed  reward,  than  three  thousand  volumes 
written  with  disdainful  sharpness  of  wit." 


THE 

EPISCOPAL  MANUAL* 

CHAPTER  I. 

History  of  the  Protestant*  Episcopal  Church, 


1  HE  tree  of  life,  planted  by  our  Lord  and  his  Apos- 
tles, continued  for  a  few  a2;es  to  flnuiish  in  its  primitive 
glory,  and  to  bear  fruit  for  the  iiealins;  of  the  nations. 
But  soon  that  *'inan  of  sin"  arose,  *'who  opposeth  and 
exalteth  himself  above  all  that  is  called  Go(l,  or  that  is 
worshipped;  so  that  he,  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temole  of 
God,  shevvinij;  hiioself  that  he  is  God  "  [a]  The  claims 
to  supremacy  which  were  at  first  but  faintly  ur;^ed  by 
the  Bishops  of  Mome  so  »n  found  an  additional  pretext 
in  political  and  local  causes.     And  then,  the  superiority 

*  The  name  of  Protestants  originated  In  the  year  1529,  when  a 
diet  was  held  by  the  Empevor  of  liermany,  in  which  the  privileg-es 
formerly  granted  to  those,  vvho  diifered  from  the  church  of  Rome, 
were  revoked.  The  Elector  of  Saxony,  the  Marquis  of  Braden- 
bargh,  the  landgrave  of  Hesse,  the  prince  of  Anhalt,  together 
with  the  deputies  of  fovirteen  imperial  cities,  entered  a  solemn 
protest  against  t'lis  decree,  as  being  unjust  and  impious.  On  that 
account  they  were  distinguislied  by  the  name  of  Protestants,  an 
appellation  which  has  since  been  applied  indiscriminately  to  all 
the  sects  of  every  denomination  whatever,  which  have  revolted 
from  the  see  of  Rome. 

(a)  2  Thess.  2—2,  3,  4.     See  also  Appenc^x  No.  1. 
2 


14  rur.  EPISCOPAL  ua'&va.'l* 

which  had  grown  out  of  these  circumstances,  came  to  be 
enforced  by  the  plea  of  a  divine  right,  as  attached  to  that 
see  bj  the  authority  of  St.  Peter. — These  pretensions 
were  violently  opposed  by  the  other  Bishops,  who  ap- 
pealed in  vain,  to  the  undeniable  fact,  that  no  such  pre- 
eminence had  ever  been  conceded,  or  known  in  the 
church.  The  title  of  pope,  which,  in  fact,  merely  sig- 
nifies the  name  of  father,  was  equally  bestowed  upon 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  those  who  possessed  the  other 
considerable  sees. — About  the  seventh  century,  however, 
the  prelates  of  Rome  began  to  appropriate  this  title  to 
themselves.  And  at  length,  the  artful  Boniface,  who 
had  resided  at  the  imperial  court,  not  disdaining  to  in- 
sinuate himself  into  the  favour  of  the  infamous  Phocas, 
who  had  waded  to  the  throne,  through  the  blood  of  the 
emperor  Mauritius,  obtained  from  him,  for  the  Romish 
patriarchs,  the  title  of  oecumenical  or  universal  Bishop. 
This  title  was,  at  first,  unaccompanied  with  any  new 
powers.  But  the  demands  of  ambition  and  power  are 
insatiable,  and  the  leaders  of  the  Roman  church  were  so 
little  contented  with  the  honours  they  had  already  ac- 
quired, that  Agatho  laid  claim  to  a  privilege  never  before 
set  up  by  the  most  extravagant  of  his  predecessors,  and 
asserted  that  the  church  of  Rome  never  had  erred,  nor 
could  err,  in  any  point,  and  that  all  its  constitutions 
ought  to  be  as  implicitly  received,  as  if  they  had  been 
delivered  by  the  divine  voice  of  St.  Peter.  These  lofty 
pretensions  were  resisted  by  the  Bishops  of  tbe  other 
sees,  and  by  several  princes,  but  the  power  of  the  Roman 
pontiffs  was  now  too  firmly  lodged  to  be  shaken  by  argu- 
ments and  remonstrances.  Henceforward,  professing 
themselves  to  be  the  vicegerents  of  Heaven,  they  seemed 
resolved  to  invert,  as  far  as  possible,  the  declaration  of 
the  great  head  of  the  church,  who  had  said  that  his  king- 
dom *'was  not  of  this  world."  Intent  only  on  their  o\yn 
aggrandizement,  they  moulded  the  church  according  to 
the  principles  of  such  a  corrupt  policy  as  might  best 
secure  and  preserve  this  great  object.  It  does  not  con- 
sist with  the  design  and  limits  of  this  work,  nor  would 
it  be  useful,  to  pursue,  with  a  minute  attention,  the  Ya- 


THE  BPISCOPit  MAWAL.  13^ 

rious  meanders  of  absurdity,  into  which  the  exuberance 
of  human  folly,  superstition,  and  wickedness  was 
branched  out,  and  which  finally  rendered  it  necessary 
for  him,  who  purchased  the  church  with  his  own  blood, 
to  apply  it  to  the  great  process  of  the  reformation. 
Suffice  it  to  say,  that  almost  every  trace  of  her  original 
features  was  obliterated,  and  her  primeval  grandeur 
confounded  and  lost  beneath  a  mass  of  unmeaning  cere- 
monies. 

To  correct  these  evils,  the  growth  of  that  long  and 
dark  night,  which  shed  so  baneful  an  iniluence  on  the 
human  mind,  and  to  reduce  the  ecclesiastical  system  to 
its  pristine  form,  was  the  task  of  the  reformers.  A 
work  so  vast  and  so  delicate,  required  no  common 
strength  and  skill.  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  required  to 
prune  away  all  that  spurious  excrescence,  which  dis- 
figured her  form,  and  unpaired  her  vigour,  and  on  the 
other,  to  preserve  unhurt  the  vital  parts. 

It  is  common  with  mankind,  in  Jheir  oscillations  of 
opinion,  to  go  from  one  extreme  to  another;  and  hence, 
some  of  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  church  have 
been  rejected,  because,  having  belonged  to  the  Roman 
church,  they  have  been  identified  with  popery.  Our  re- 
formers were  happily  free  from  this  weakness,  and  were 
desirous  only  of  separating  between  those  things  which 
were  truly  erroneous  and  superstitious,  and  those  that 
were  truly  scriptural  and  apostolical.  Fhe  result  of 
their  labours  is  that  admirable  system  of  ecclesiastical 
polity,  which  distinguishes  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church. 

Should  it  be  inquired,  upon  what  principle  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  Protestant  Church  can  be  delivered  from 
the  guilt  of  schism;  it  is  sufficient  to  remark,  that  the 
Church  of  Rome  herself  is  guilty  of  the  schism,  by  re- 
quiring from  us  such  terms  of  communion,  as  consist, 
neither  with  our  conscience,  nor  the  word  of  God;  by 
substituting  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men; 
and  by  driving  from  her  bosom  those  who  chose  to 
hearken  to  God  rather  than  man.  By  adhering  to  her 
errors,  and  consecrating  anew  the  unscriptural  dogmas 


16  THE  EPISCOPAL  MAITUAL. 

of  the  middle  ages,  which  had  crept  into  her  creed; 
she  did,  in  fact,  willingly  renoutsce  the  true  faith, 
and  separate  herself  from  that  pure  reformed  branch, 
which  God,  by  his  marvellous  power,  raised  up  in  the 
world.  In  the  separation,  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  carried  with  her^  and  has  retained,  according  to 
the  admission  of  Roman  Catholics  themselves,  all  the  ele- 
ments and  essentials  of  a  true  church.  The/  do,  indeed, 
pretend  to  deny  our  juris  diction^  as  we  have  thrown  off 
our  allegiance  to  the  Pope  of  Rome;  but  they  are  con- 
strained to  admit  the  validity  of  our  ministry  and  of  all 
the  functions  thereto  appertaining.* 

An  objection  may  arise  here  in  relation  to  the  fact, 
that  there  is  an  apparent  discrepancy  between  the  sys- 
tem of  polity  which  governs  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
this  country,  and  the  hierarchy  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, from  which  we  boast  our  descent:  that  in  the 
Church  of  America  only  three  grades  of  officers.  Bishops, 
Presbyters  and  Deacons  are  known,  whereas  in  England 
there  are  Archbishops,  Deans,  and  Archdeacons,  &c. 
and  the  king  is  supreme  head  of  the  church.  A  slight 
consideration  of  this  objection  will  serve  to  shew  that 
t  is  founded  on  a  misapprehension  of  the  subject.  '*I 
may  securely  conclude,^'  says  Hooker,  that  there  are 
I'at  this  day,  in  the  Church  of  England,  no  other  than  the 
same  degrees  of  ecclesiastical  orders,  namely.  Bishops, 
Presbyters  and  Deacons,  which  had  their  beginning 
from  Christ  and  his  blessed  Apostles.  As  for  Deans, 
Prebendaries,  Archdeacons,  Chancellors,  Commissaries, 
and  such  like  names,  which  being  not  found  in  holy 
scripture,  we  have  thereby,  through  some  men's  error, 
been  thought  to  allow  of  ecclesiastical  degrees  not 
known  in  the  better  ages  of  former  times;  all  these  are 
in  truth  but  titles  of  otfice,  whereunto  partly  ecclesiasti- 

*  M.  Courager,  a  Roman  Catholic  Divine,  in  a  work  on  the 
subject,  has  vindicated  the  Protestant  Episcopal  ordination. 
Archbishop  Carroll,  of  Baltimore,  acknowledged  that  this  point 
was  beyond  question,  settled  in  our  favour.  There  are  few  found 
now  who  would  venture  their  reputation  on  tlie  absurd  story  of 
tlie  Naggs  Head.     See  Burnet's  History  of  the  Reformation. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  17 

eal  persons,  and  partly  others,  are  in  sundry  forms  and 
conditions  admitted,  as  the  state  of  the  church  doth 
need,  the  decrees  of  order  still  continuing  the  same 
they  were  from  the  beginning."*  These  are  matters 
of  mere  canonical  reg;iilation  and  convenience.  In  the 
same  way,  were  a  Presbyter  in  the  United  States  ap- 
pointed by  the  e^'clesiastical  authority,  superintendent 
of  a  particulrir  dislri  t;  though  he  might  possess  ex- 
tensive powers  of  jv  Isdiction,  and  be  designated  by  a 
title  peculiar  to  h*s  local  relation,  yet  would  he  be  only  a 
Presbyter  in  hi«  oftit'.Hl  and  spiritual  functions.  The 
Episcopal  Churcii  of  'Jjigland  and  of  this  country  agree 
in  the  great  fundamental  points  of  order  and  doctrine. 
They  both  rec  gnlzt  only  three  spiritual  orders,  and 
both  concur  in  the  i'>:portant  principle  of  committing 
the  power  of  udi'-  tion  to  the  Bishop  alone.  The 
king,  though  h(  ^d  ot  the  church,  ha*  no  spiritual  power. 
He  may  appoint,  but  camiat  consecrate  to  the  Episco- 
pal office.  Tlv.^  ca.i  be  done  only  by  Bishops.  **To 
the  prince  or  lo  Hit  law"  (says  Bishop  Horsl.y)  '*we 
are  indebted  lor  all  our  secular  possessions;  for  the 
rank  and  dign'*j  annexed  to  the  superior  order  of  the 
clergy;  for  o^r  s^^blar  authority;  for  the  jurisdiction  of 
our  courts;  and  f  r-  pvery  civil  etfect,  which  follows  the 
exercise  of  'ur  spUitual  authority.  All  these  rights 
and  honour^  v,i(h  which  the  priesthood  is  adorned,  by 
the  piety  ot  the  civil  magistrate,  are  quite  distinct  from 
the  spiritual  comTnissioa  which  we  beir  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  Christ  s  Kingdom.  They  have  no  necessary 
connexion  ^ith  it;  they  stand  merely  on  the  ground  of 
human  lav/."t  The  Church  of  England,  then,  and  the 
Church  of  this  country,  though  differing  from  each  other 
in  some  or  their  civil  moditications,  and  in  the  titles  of 
their  offi^f^rs,  are  spiritually,  and  essentially,  the  same.  , 

Before   the    American   revolution,   the   ministers    in 
ihis  country  received  ordination  from  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 

*Eccle3.  policy  lib.  v.  Sect.  78. 

•[Ciiaijje  to  his  Clergy  by  the  Bishop  of  St.  David. 


18  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

don;  but  on  the  independence  of  the  United  States, 
provision  was  made  for  the  translation  of  the  Episco- 
pate, as  will  be  seen  in  the  following  summary  of  the 

History  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America.' — ibridgedfrom  the  Churchman's  Magazine. 

Althoug;h  a  proportion  of  those  settled  in  the  Amer- 
ican Colonies  were  of  the  profession  established  in  Eng- 
land; yet  the  number  was  not  so  consiilerable  as  might 
be  supposed,  from  the  relation  of  the  two  countries; 
owing  probably  to  the  circumstance  that  several  of 
the  colonies  arose,  in  a  great  measure,  from  the  dissat- 
isfaction with  the  establishment  at  home,  and  partly  to 
an  influx  of  subsequent  settlers,  not  only  trom  other 
countries,  subject  to  the  some  crown,  but  also  from 
countries  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  especially  some 
of  the  states  of  Germany.  Hence  it  was,  that,  when 
the  revolutionary  war  began,  there  were  not  more  than 
about  eighty  parochial  clergymen  of  the  Church  of 
England  to  the  northward  and  eastward  of  Maryland. 
These,  with  the  exception  of  those  resident  in  Boston, 
Newport,  New-York,  and  Philadelphia,  derived  a  great- 
er part  of  their  subsistence  from  the  society  instituted 
in  England,  *'for  propas;ating  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts," 
there  being  no  Episcopal  congregations  out  of  those 
towns  and  cities,  considered  able  to  support  clergymen 
of  themselves.  In  Maryland  and  Virginia,*  the  Epis- 
copal Church  was  much  more  numerous  and  had  legal 
establishments  for  its  support.  In  the  more  southern 
colonies,  the  Episcopalians  were  fewer  in  proportion 
than  in  the  two  last  mentioned,  but  more  in  number  than 
in  the  northern. 

The  difficulty  .of  obtaining  Episcopal  ordination, 
wliich  had  existed  during  the  acknowledged  supre- 
macy of  the   British  crown,  continued  to  operate  with 

*The  Rev.  !Mr.  Boucher,  formerly  a  cler£f}Tnan  of  Virginia, 
states  in  his  discourses,  that  about  the  middle  of  tiie  last  centurj 
'*there  was  not  in  the  whole  colony,  a  single  dissenting"  congre- 
gation. " 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL*  19 

greater  force,  during  the  stu^o^le  wbich  terminated  in  the 
independence  of  the  United  States.  During;  that  term 
there  was  no  resource  for  the  supply  of  vacancies, 
which  were  continually  multi plyins:,  not  only  by  death, 
but  by  the  retreat  of  very  many  of  "^he  Episcopal  clergy 
to  the  mother  country,  or  other  colonies  still  dependent 
on  her.  Many  also  cherishing  the  obligations  of  their 
allegiance,  entertaining  conscientious  scruples  against 
the  use  of  the  liturgy  in  which  were  now  omitted  the 
prayers  for  the  Kins:,  ceased  to  oflRriate.  Thus  the  far 
greater  numlier  of  the  Episcopal  ci.urches  were  closed 
for  several  years.  In  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  there 
was  a  part  of  that  time,  in  which  there  was  but  one  of- 
ficiating minister  of  the  church,  throughout  its  whole 
extent. 

As  soon  however  as  the  Independence  of  America 
was  acknowledged  by  Great  Britain,  measures  were  be- 
gun for  obtaining  the  Episcopate  on  this  side  of  the  At- 
lantic. Hitherto  the  different  parts  ot  the  church  in 
America  were  detached  from  and  independent  of  each 
other.  The  only  bovid  of  uniovi  was  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, from  whom  all  the  ordinations  for  the  colonies  had 
emanated.  This  medium  of  connexion  was  now  dis- 
solved, and  it  came  desirable  ihat  some  common  asso- 
ciation should  be  formed  to  carry  into  effect  the  com- 
mon object,  and  to  prevent  the  evil  of  each  state  being 
left  to  adopt  distinct  and  varyiiif^  measures. 

The  first  sten  towards  forming  a  collective  body  of 
the  Episcopal  church  in  these  United  Strjtes  was  taken 
at  a*  meeting  for  another  purpose,*  of  a  few  clergymen 
of  New-York,  New-Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  at  Bruns- 
wick in  New-Jersey,  on  the  13th  and  14th  of  May,  1784. 
Here  it  was  determined  to  pri-cure  a  larger  meeting  on 
the  5th  of  the  ensuing  October,  m  New-York,  for  the 
purpose  of  reviving  the  charitable  institution  which  had 


*In  consequence  of  a  prior  correspondence,  they  had  assem- 
bled to  renew  a  society,  which  had  existed  under  charters  of 
incopporution,  for  the  support  of  widows  and  children  of  deceased 
clerg'ymen. 


20  TH      EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

formed  the  object  of  the  previous  meeting,  and  to  con- 
fer and  agree  on  some  general  principles  of  an  union 
of  the  Episcopal  church  throughout  the  states. 

Accordingly  thej  met  at  the  time  and  place  proposed. 
After  laying  dowr>  a  few  general  principles,  to  be  recom- 
mended to  the  different  states,  as  the  ground  on  which 
a  future  Ecclesiastical  government  should  be  establish- 
ed, they  concluded  their  proceedings,  as  they  began 
them,  in  much  harmony,  and  recommended  to  the  church 
in  the  several  states,  to  send  clerical  and  lay  deputies 
to  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  27th  of 
September,  in  the  year  following. 

On  the  27th  of  September,  1785,  there  assembled, 
agreeably  to  appointment,  in  Philadelphia,  a  Convention 
of  clerical  and  lay  deputies  from  New-York,  New-Jer- 
sey, Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
South  Carolina.  Such  alterations  were  then  made,  in 
the  Book  of  Common  Praver,  as  were  necessary  for 
accommodating  it  to  the  late  changes  in  the  state;  and 
such  other  alterations  were  proposed,  but  n(>t  established, 
as  was  thought  to  be  an  iniprovement  of  the  service, 
and  of  the  manner  of  stating  the  principal  articles  of 
faith.  These  were  published  in  a  book,  ever  since 
known  by  the  name  of  i\\Q  proposed  book. 

Previously  to  this,  Dr.  Seabury  of  Connecticut,  elected 
Bishop  of  that  state,  not  meeting  with  the  desired  as- 
surance of  success  from  the  Bishops  of  England,  had 
obtained  consecration  from  the  non-juring  Bishops  of 
Scotland,  who  had  carefully  maintained  the  succession 
in  that  country,  notwithstanding  their  severance  from 
the  state,  in  the  revolution  of  1688.  But  it  now  appear- 
ing, that  the  difficulties,  which  had  operated  in  the 
case  of  Dr.  Seabury's  application  to  the  Bishops  of 
England,  might  be  easily  removed,  and  it  being  desira- 
ble to  obviate  any  possible  objection  to  the  validity  of 
the  Episcopal  succession  in  America,  it  was  thought 
most  proper  to  direct  their  views,  in  the  first  instance, 
towards  England,  j«!though,  with  the  exception  of  a  few, 
none  alledged  any  thing  against  the  validity  of  Dw 
Seabury's  consecration. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  21 

Accordingly,  a  memorial  settins;  forth  the  object  of 
their  request,  was  adc! reused  to  the  Archbishops  and 
Bishops  of  Kngiancl;  a  committee-  was  appointed  to  act 
in  recess  of  the  Convention,  with  dele2:ated  powers,  to 
hold  correspondence,  &c.  and  the  Convention  adjourned 
to  m.eet  on  the  20rh  of  June,  in  the  following  year. 
Their  address  to  the  English  prelates  was  forwarded  by 
the  committee  to  his  Excellency  John  Q.  Adams,  esq. 
the' American  minister,  who  willingly  performed  the  ser- 
vice requested. — There  were  also  forwarded  certificates 
from  the  Executives  of  those  states,  in  which  there  was 
a  probability  of  there  beinj:^  Bishops  chosen.  To  this 
application  an  answer  was  received  by  the  committee, 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  17o6,  signed  by  the  two  Arch- 
bishops and  eighteen  Bishops,  expressing  their  wishes  in 
favour  of  the  object  prayed  for,  but  the  suggesting  the 
necessity,  on  their  part,  of  delaying  measures  until  there 
should  be  laid  before  them  the  alterations,  which  had 
been  made  by  the  convention. 

Not  long  after  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  the  committee 
received  another  from  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury 
and  York,  informing  them,  that  they  had  received  the 
edited  book  of  common  prayer,  in  regard  to  which,  they 
were  dissatisfied  with  the  omission  of  the  Nicene  and 
Athanasian  creeds,  and  of  the  clause  relating  to  the 
descent  into  hell,  in  the  apostles  creed;  and  with  some 
other  inconsiderable  alterations. — They  informed  the 
committee,  that  they  were  likely  to  obtain  an  act  of 
parliament,  enabling  them  to  consecrate  for  America. 
They  expected  however,  that,  before  they  should  pro- 
ceed under  the  act,  satisfaction  should  be  given  in  re- 
gard to  the  matters  stated. 

After  the  receipt  of  the  first  letter,  and  before  the 
receipt  of  the  second,  the  general  convention  assembled 
agreebly  to  appointment  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  20th  of 
June,  1786.  The  principal  business  transacted  by  them, 
was  another  address  to  the  English  prelates,  conveying 
an  acknowledgement  of  their  friendly  and  affectionate 
letter,  and  their  deiermination  of  making  no  further 
alterations,  than  such  as  either  arose  from  a  change  of 


•22  THE  EF:5Cv')1'AL  Jf> -TVAL. 

circumstances,  or  appeared  condunve  to  union.  Before 
their  arljournmeiit.  they  appointed  a  committee  with 
power  to  re-assemble  them,  if  thouii;ht  expedient,  at 
Wilmington,  in  the  state  of  Delaware.  On  the  commit- 
tee's receipt  of  the  second  letter,  they  summoned  the 
convention  to  meet  at  the  place  appointed,  on  the  10th 
of  October,  1786.  The  principal  matter  which  occupi- 
ed them,  when  assembled,  was,  the  question  how  far 
they  should  conform  to  the  requisitions  of  the  Archbi- 
shops. One  of  the  difficulties  had  been  done  away,  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  their  objections.  The  omission  of 
the  Nicene  creed  had  been  generally  regretted,  and  ac- 
cordingly it  was  now,  without  debate,  restored  to  the 
book  of  common  prayer,  to  stand  after  the  apostles 
creed,  with  permission  of  the  use  of  either.  The  clause 
in  the  latter  creed,  of  the  descent  into  hell,  was,  after 
much  debate,  restored,  but  the  Athanasian  creed  was 
negatived.  Testimonials  were  then  sij^ned  by  the  ceii- 
▼ention,  in  favour  of  the  Rev.  Hamuel  Provoust,  D.D. 
Rector  of  Trinity  cnurch,  in  the  -itate  of  New  York;  the 
Rer.  William  While,  0.  D.  Rector  of  Christ  church 
and  St.  Peter's,  Philadelphia;  and  the  Rev.  David  Grif- 
fith, D.  D.  Rector  of  i^'airfax  Parish,  Virginia,*  all  of 
whom  exhibited  testimonials  of  their  having  been  duly 
elected  Bishops,  by  the  conventions  of  their  respective 
States. 

The  two  former,  Dr.  White  and  Dr.  Provoost,  pro- 
ceeded to  England,  and  were  ordained  and  consecrated 
bishops  in  the  A.rchiepiscopdl  Palace  of  LumbeUi,  on  the 
4th  February,  1787,  by  the  most  Rev.  John  Moore,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  The  Archbishop  of  York  pre- 
sented, and  the  bishop  of  Biith  and  v>  ells,  and  the 
bishop  of  Peterborough  joinued  in  the  imposition  of 
hands. 


•  Dr.  Griffith  was  prevented  from  prosecuting'  his  intended 
Toyage  to  Englainl,  and  had  i^iven  in  his  resig-nation  to  the  Con- 
Tention  of  Vn  j^ima.  He  attended  tiie  General  Convention  as  a 
Deputy,  in  17  y,  :.nd  was  there  seized  with  the  disorder  that 
terminated  his  exiitence,  in  the  house  of  Bishop  Wiiite. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.*  23 

On  the  28ih  Julj,  1789,  assembled  the  triennial  com* 
vention.  At  this  session  the  constitution  formed  in  178S 
was  reviewed  and  new  modelled.  On  the  29th  J^eptem*- 
ber,  in  the  same  year,  they  re-assembled  according  to 
adjournment.  The  principal  features  now  given  to  it 
were  a  distribution  of  the  legislative  department  into 
two  houses,  one  consisting  of  the  bishops,  and  the  other 
of  the  clerical  and  lay  deputies.  The  convention  ad- 
journed to  meet  on  the  29th  September  following.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  Rev.  James  Madison,  D.  D.  Presi- 
dent of  William  and  Mary  College  Williamsburgh,  wa» 
tlected  Bishop  by  the  convention  of  Virginia,  and  con* 
secrated  in  England. 

On  the  29th  September,  1789,  the  convention  met, 
pursuant  to  adjournment.  The  two  housei  entered  on  a 
review  of  the  liturgy,  and  the  book  of  common  prayer, 
as  then  established,  and  has  been  used  ever  since.  Since 
that  time  no  material  alterations  have  been  made.  In 
1792,  the  ordinal  was  reviewed  and  modified  into  its 
present  form.  In  1799,  was  established  the  form  of 
consecrating  churches  and  chapels.  In  1801,  the  arti- 
cles were  authoritively  decided  upon,  in  which  the  letter 
of  the  original  thirty-nine  articles  was  strictly  preserved, 
with  the  exception  of  such  matters  as  are  local.  In 
1804,  an  oflBce  was  formed  and  ordered  to  be  used  at  the 
induction  of  Ministers.  A  course  of  ecclesiastical 
studies  for  candidates  for  orders  was  prescribed  by  the 
house  of  bishops;  and  the  constitution  was  altered,  so  as 
that  the  future  triennial  conventions  should  be  held  in  the 
month  of  May,  instead  of  September.* 

•  See  Appendix  No.  2,  for  list  of  eucccBiiona  of  Americsm 
Siihops. 


CHAPTER  11. 


'  On  Government, 

In  proceeding  now  to  speak  of  the  church  as  thus  or- 
ganized and  established,  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish 
between  her  government  and  her  ministry.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  church  includes  in  it  not  only  the  three 
orders  of  the  ministry,  and  thus  far  being  of  divine  origin, 
but  extends  also  to  all  those  other  offices  which  the  church 
may  deem  it  expedient  to  organize;  to  the  mode  in  which 
her  ministers  are  elected  and  vested  with  jui  isdiction;  and 
to  the  particular  ors^anizafion  by  which  her  legislative^ 
executive  and  judiciary  powers  are  exercised.  Con- 
sidered in  reference  to  these  latter  objects,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  church  is  of  human  origin.  And  in  this 
sense  we  must  understand  the  concessions  of  some  of 
our  greatest  divines,  who  admit  very  {-'roperly.  that  no 
form  of  church  govertji.ient  can  be  deduced  from  the 
scriptures,  while  thev  at  the  same  time  maintain,  strenu- 
ously, the  divine  prescription  of  the  ministry.* 

With  regard  to  the  manner  of  admitting  ministers, 
the  church  has  enacted  laws,  which,  if  well  observed, 
would  be  likely  to  secure  a  learned  and  pious  ministry. 
That  they  should  not  be  novices, t  she  requires  them  to 
have  attained  the  age  of  tweaty-one  years  before  they 
can  be  admitted  to  the  order  of  Deacons,  twenty-four 
before  they  can  be  made  Priests,  and  thirty  before  they 
can  be  made  Bishops.J  That  hands  may  be  laid  sud- 
denly on  no  man,§  she  requires  that  every  candidate  for 
orders  should  give  notice  of  his  intention,  at  least  one 

*  See  Bishop  Hobarts'  charge  to  his  Clergy  1815,  p.  20. 
flTim.  iii.  6.  • 

i  VI.  Canon  Gen.  Convent. 
§1  Tim.  v.  22. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  £5 

year  previ^Mis  +o  his  ordination.^  To  aseertain  whether 
he  posseisses  a  competent  share  of  learning,  he  is  re- 
quired to  undergo  four  distinct  examinations,  either  by 
the  Bishop,  or  some  persons  apptunted  by  him.  and  finally 
by  the  Bishop  himself,  in  presence  of,  and  assisted  by 
his  presbyters.t  He  must  understand  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages,  &c.  &c.  unless  all  the  members  of  the 
standing  committee  agree  to  dispense  with  this  branch 
of  science,  m  consicieiation  of  certain  other  qualifica- 
tions pecuiiai'^  fitting  him  for  the  gospel  ministry.^  The 
candidate  is  also  informed  that  *'the  church  expects  of 
him,  what  can  never  be  brought  to  the  test  of  any  out- 
ward standard,  an  inward  fear  and  worship  of  Almighty 
God:  a  love  of  religion,  and  sensibility  to  its  holy  in- 
fluence; a  habit  of  devout  affection;  and  in  short,  a  cul- 
tivation of  all  those  graces,  which  are  called  in  scripture, 
the  fruits  of  the  spirit,  and  by  which  alone  his  sacred  influ- 
ences may  be  manifested.'  §  In  order  to  guard  against 
the  instability  which  nn«;ht  attach  to  a  hasty  profession 
of  a  religious  faith  and  practice,  she  requires  that  every 
eanditate  before  ordination  shall  produce  from  the  min- 
ister and  vestry  of  the  parish  where  he  resides,  or  from, 
the  vestry  alone,  if  the  parish  be  vacant,  or  ir  there  be 
no  vestry,  from  at  least  tuelve  respectable  persons  of  the 
Protestanr  Episcopal  Church,  testimonials  of  his  piety, 
good  morals,  and  orderly  conduct  for  three  years  last 
past,  and  that  he  hath  not  written,  taught  or  held  any 
thing  contrary  to  the  doctrine,  discipline  and  worship  of 
the  church.  This  testimonial  is  submitted  to  the  stand- 
ing committee,  whose  office  it  is  to  inspect  and  inquire 
into  the  conduct  of  candidates,  and  whose  recommenda- 
tion to  the  Bis  lOp  IS  essential  to  their  obtaining  ordina- 
tion.||  The  Bishop  then  may  proceed  to  ordain,  being 
satisfied  himself  from  personal  knowledge,  from  exami- 
Hation,  or  from  the  testmiony  of  others,  that  the  person 
is  apt  and  meet  to  exercise  the  ministry  to  the  glory  ©f 

*VII.  Canon.  fX.  Canon. 

^  IX.  Canon.  §  VII.  Canon. 

8  Xn.  Caooiii 
3 


«& 


TfiB  EPI90OPi.L  IZIRITAZ.^ 


God  and  (he  good  of  the  church.  He  then  propounds  f« 
him  this  moiit  solemn  question,  *'Do  you  trust  that  jou 
are  inwardly  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  take  upon 
you  this  ofl&ce  and  ministry?" 

The  admission  of  men  into  the  sacred  order,  and  the 
maintaining  of  discipline  among  them  after  they  are  ad- 
mitted, are  matters  of  vast  importance,  and  ought  to 
awaken  in  the  clergy  and  hity  the  highest  degree  of  at- 
tention. Every  man  in  society  is  implicated  in  the  guilt 
of  an  unhallowed  profession  in  the  ministry,  and  it  be- 
comes the  duty  of  every  well  wisher  to  the  cause  of 
religion  to  hold  up  his  testimony  without  favour  or  fear, 
against  every  unworthy  intruder. 

There  is  a  false  complaisance  too  common  amongst 
us,  which  induces  vestries  and  otheis,  on  very  slight 
grounds,  to  grant  testimonials  of  character.  It  has  its 
origin  sometimes  indeed,  in  amiable  feelings;  but  it  can- 
not be  reconciled  with  manly  principle.  Credentials, 
especially  which  are  to  .ntroduce  a  candidate  to  the 
ministerial  office,  should  not  be  given  without  the  utmost 
caution  and  deiibeiation. 

For  of  all  the  trusts  which  God  hath  put  into  our  hands, 
that  which  assigns  us  the  kt^ejjing  of  the  interests  and  ho- 
nour of  the  church,  is  the  most  iuiporlunt,  as  it  is  the  most 
extensive  in  its  consequences  to  mankind.  The  laws  of  our 
church  therefore,  ou^lii  to  be  observed  with  the  most  scru- 
pulous rigour.  Neither  friendship,  nor  compassion,  nor  in- 
terest, nor  importunity  should  make  us  swerve  from  truth 
and  honesty.  Frieneir^hip  to  any  man  in  this  respect,  is 
enmity  to  God;  compaasiwn  to  an  individual  is  cruelty, 
and  tlie  worst  cruelty  too,  to  the  community.  It  is  to 
become  partaker  of  other  men's  sins,  and  to  be  in  a 
great  measure,  answerable  tor  the  harm  which  they  do  to 
souls,  the  disgrace  which  they  bring  on  their  office,  the 
hurt  which  they  do  to  religion,  and  the  mischiefs  which 
they  bring  upon  the  chuich  of  God.  Ignorance  in  a 
minister  who  undertakes  to  expound  the  word  of  God, 
and  to  make  men  wise  unto  salvation,  must  always  prove 
a  disqualification  for  extensive  usefulness.  But  a  worse 
tailing  still  is  ignorance  in  spiritual  science^  and  still 


THB  BPISeOPAl  MAmjAL,  ^] 

werse  a  bad  life.  An  irreligious,  or  unholy  life  ill  be- 
comes any  who  name  the  name  of  Christ;  but  most  of 
all  doss  it  deform  tlie  character  of  one  who  clothes  him- 
self in  i;\e  ministerial  ^arb.  A  minister  without  piety 
is  a  monster  in  the  church  of  God.  His  ugliness  deters 
those  who  would  approach  the  holy  place  so  much,  that 
all  the  exhortations  which  he  gives  them  to  enter  thither, 
are  to  no  purpose. — "He  resembles  those  horrid  shapes 
which  the  ooets  feijin  to  have  stood  at  the  entrance  of 
Elysium.  U  required  uncommon  resolution  in  any  per- 
son to  pass  by  them,  and  force  his  way  into  the  abodes  of 
the  blessed."* 

The  canonical  g:overnment  of  the  church  in  this  coun- 
try, is  constructed  upon  the  simple  republican  principle 
which  pervades  all  our  civil  institutions. — Each  state  or 
diocess  is  secured  in  its  state  sovereiunty,  and  has  power 
to  make  such  'aws  as  are  not  incompatible  v/ith  the  gen- 
eral constitution.  An  annual  convention  is  usually  held 
in  each  state  or  diocess,  consisting  of  the  regular  clergy 
belonging  to  t^ie  same,  and  a  lay  deputy  from  every  pa- 
rish that  chooses  to  send  such  a  representative.  Each 
state  or  diocesan  convention  has  the  right  to  elect  four 
of  the  clerical,  ijnd  four  of  the  laical  order,  to  represent 
it  in  the  general  convention  which  holds  its  session 
triennially.  'I'iie  general  convention  consists  of  two 
houses,  and  is  constituted  by  these  clerical  and  lay  depu- 
ties thus  elected,  who  form  one  branch,  and  by  all  the 
Bishops  of  the  church  who  compose  the  other.  A  vote 
of  both  houses  i»  necessary  to  the  enactment  of  a  law, 
and  the  law,  when  thus  passed,  is  bmdingon  every  state  or 
diocess  that  has  ;.ccetled  to  the  constitution.  Tne  trame 
of  government  which  distm;i;uishes  the  church  has  now 
attained  to  that  stability  and  strength,  and  has  settled 
into  that  happy  oaiance  of  power  and  liberty  which  not 
even  its  friends  uoped  for,  but  which  are  substantiated 
by  the  evidei.-.e  of  many  years  of  remarkable  unity  and 
expanding  prosperity.     From  the   reports  handed  in  at 

*See  Smith's  Lectures  on  the  nature  and  end  of  the  sacred 
office,  a  book  which  oug-ht  to  be  in  the  hands  and  heart  of  every 
clex^yman. 


^  THE  EPISCOPAL  KASUAL. 

the  general  convention  of  1820,  it  appears  that  she  con- 
tinues to  extend  herself  into  the  new  states,  as  well  as 
in  those  in  which  she  has  long  b.en  planted.  May  pea.ce 
long  continue  to  dwell  within  thy  walls,  and  prosperitj 
within  thy  palaces !  ^ 


CHAPTER  III. 


On  the  Nature  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Christian  Min- 
istry, 

**The  visible  Church  of  Christ  is  a  congregation  of 
faithful  men,  in  the  which  the  word  .^  God  is  faithfully 
preached,  and  the  sacramrrsts  duly  administered  accord- 
ing to  Christ's  or'^inanre,  in  all  those  things  that  of  ne- 
cessity are  requisite  to  the  same.'** 

It  is  a  society,  and  every  society  is  distinguished  from 
the  general  nia>s  of  the  community  by  its  order  and  go- 
ernment.  To  l!)e  estHb'.i^-hmer.t  of  order  and  govern- 
ment, a  regular  appointment  of  chosen  men  to  the  ad- 
ministration «»f  particular  oiFices  is  essential. 

This  mode  of  re  isoning  as  far  as  temporal  affairs  is 
concerned,  we  readily  a<iinit.  Let  it  be  applied  to  the 
case  of  the  church,  C'Wisiriered  as  a  society,  formed  by 
God  himself,  under  a  particular  government,  calculated 
to  promote  the  ends  of  its  institute,  s:  and  we  may 
conclude  in  one  ca>e  as  itj  the  other,  that  personal 
qualifications  furnish  no  dispensation  for  an  outward 
appointment  to  an  «)rnce  of  trust.  **No  man's  gifts  or 
qualities  can  make  him  a  minister  of  holy  things,  unless 
Ordination  do  giv*»  him  the  power. '"f  Personal  quali- 
fication in  the  minister  is,  indeed  requisite  to  the  pro- 
per discharge  of  the  sacred  Otfue:  but  a>  tnis  is  a  crite- 
rion which  may  sometimes  deceive,  and  which  in  its 
nature  is  chana;oabie  and  -j^recarious,  it  is  necessary  for 
the  effectual  administration  of  the  office,  tnat  a  divine 
authority,  and  a  blessing  consequent  upon  that  audiori- 
ty,  independent  of  iiny  personal  qualification,  should  be 

*  Article  xix. 

jHooker's  Eccles.  Polity,  Book  v.  Sect.  7^. 


30  THE  EPlSdOPAL  MANCAL. 

inkerent  in  the  office  itself.  Thus  the  divine  eonfirrua- 
tion  of  the  ministerial  act  is  secured,  and  made  t© 
depend  not  on  the  personal  qualification,  but  on  the  ap- 
pointment of  God:  And  thus  th?  eye  of  the  faithful  is  di- 
rected to  the  proper  object,  am'  troci.  not  man,  receives 
the  glory.  But  without  an  external  commission,  and 
the  delegation  to  some  specific  authority  to  confer  it, 
according  to  Christ's  appointnient,  how  could  we  know 
whether  we  have  a  valid  ministry  or  not?  If  any  one 
may  rise  up  in  the  church,  and  claim  the  power  of 
exercising,  or  bestowing,  this  commission,  merely  by 
virtue  of  his  being  more  holy  than  others,  what  limit 
can  be  assigned  to  the  operation  nf  the  principle,  and 
to  the  confusion  that  must  ensuc?  Hundreds  in  the 
congregation,  as  well  as  one,  mav  claim  this  right,  and 
thus  our  Jerusalem  whose  charact eristic  it  is,  that  she 
is  as  a  city  at  unity  with  herself,  would  resemble  a 
Babel,  in  which  no  one  would  Ui  Jer'^lend  his  neigh- 
bour. "This  is  the  crime, '^  as.  th  [*ious  and  eloquent 
Bishop  Home  remarks,  *^for  which  the  '-^nrosy  once  rose 
up  in  the  forehead  of  a  monarch,  an-;  Korah  and  his 
company,  holy  a&  they  thought  themselves  to  be,  went 
down  alive  into  the  pit.''        .  * 

It  is  manifest  from  the  sacred  >;  ripb^res,  that  of  old, 
God  had  a  visible  church  on  ear^  i,  administered  by  men 
set  apart  tor  that  office  by  peculiar  ceremonies,  and  ac- 
cording to  an  established  an(5  preFcribed  order;  and 
that  the  blessings  t>f  salvatii/  were  promised  only  to 
those  who  had  a  c«)venant  r*  ation  to,  and  connexion 
with,  this  visible  church.  'I  lie  p  culiar  rite  of  initia- 
tion into  its  bosom,  and  the  pfi-'^icular  form  of  its  minis- 
try, were  matters  of  explicit  t.^mm'^nd  and  direction  from 
God.  The  mode  of  initiati  -n  into  the  christian  church, 
and  the  indispensable  nec^  «isity  '^f  its  initiation  are  as 
clearly  revealed  in  the  New  Testament,  as  the  former 
are  in  the  old;  and  as  it  r.^ard  the  great  principle  upon 
which  the  christian  mi  iis< ry  s  organized,  the  apostle 
declares,  that  "no  man  has  ^  right  to  take  this  honour 
upon  himself,  but  he  that  is  called  of  God  as  was  Aaron*''* 

*Heb.  V.  4. 


TH£  EPXSeOPAL  tlklSVAL.  SI 

It  becomes,  therefore,  an  important  inquiry,  what  is  that 
mode  of  administration  which  was  established  by  our 
Lord  and  his  apostles,  and  to  which  "pertain  the  adop- 
tion, and  the  glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of 
the  law,  and   the  service  of  God,   and  the  promises."  - 

The  preface  to  the  ordinal  in  our  book  of  common 
prayer,  has  the  following  declaration: — "It  is  evident 
unto  all  men,  diligently  reading  holy  scripture  and  an- 
cient authors,  that  from  the  Apostles'  time  there  have 
been  three  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's  church — Bish- 
ops, Priests,  and  Deacons. — Which  offices  were  ever- 
more had  in  SHch  reverend  estimation,  that  no  man  might 
presume  to  execute  any  of  them,  except  he  were  first 
called,  tried  and  examined,  and  known  to  have  such 
qualities  as  are  requisite,  for  the  same;  and  also  by 
public  prayer,  with  imposition  of  hands,  were  approved 
and  admitted  thereunto  by  lawful  authority."  This, 
being  the  sober  and  deliberate  declaration  of  wise  and 
good  men  who  sealed  their  doctrines  with  their  blood, 
cannot  be  supposed  to  have  been  made  on  slight  grounds. 
The  considerations  which  support  the  doctrine  here 
laid  down  by  our  reformers  could  not  be  given  at  length 
in  a  work  like  the  present.  But  it  may  not  be  unaccept- 
able to  those  who  have  had  no  opportunity  ot  examining 
the  subject,  to  be  put  in  possession  of  a  few  of  the  rea- 
sons which  might  be  adduced  in  favour  of  this  pecu- 
liarity in  our  ecclesiastical  system. 

I.  On  analogies  we  depend  only  for  illustration  of 
argument  and  confirmation  of  proo's.  We  do  not 
maintain,  that,  because  there  were  three  orders  in  the 
Jewish  priesthood,  there  must,  uf  necessity,  be  three 
in  the  christian.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  there  is 
an  intimate  connexion  between  the  two  dispensations, 
and  a  strong  resemblance  between  the  positive  institu- 
tions of  the  former,  which,  in  fact,  were,  for  the  most 
part,  typical,  and  those  of  the  latter.  W'e  find,  for 
instance,  the  church  founded  on  the  twelve  apostles, 
answering  to  the  congregation  of  Israel — divided  into 
twelve  tribes  under  the  twelve  patriarchs, — ;he  seventy 
disciples  appointed  by  Christ,  answering  to  the  serejity 


3f  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL, 

elders  who  assisted  Moses; — the  prayers,  praises,  bene- 
dictions, and  federal  rites  of  the  Christian  church, 
answering  to  all  those  in  the  Jewish.  In  this  view,  we 
cannot  but  think,  that  the  Episcopal  plan  exhibits  a  fine 
analogy  and  noble  consistency  with  the  divine  dispen- 
sations, by  the  preservation  of  three  orders  in  the  min- 
istry, which,  as  St.  Jerome  remarks,  were  established 
in  the  christian  in  correspo»^dence  with  the  Jewish 
hierarchy  of  High  Priest,  Priest,  and  Levite. 

II.  But  we  are  ready,  in  all  things,  to  refer  our 
judgment  to  that  only  infallible  standard  of  truth  given 
ns  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.  And  here  we  find  no  dif- 
ficulty in  admitting,  that  no  express  precept  of  our 
Saviour  is  recorded.  Tf  this  be  an  objection,  it  is  one 
which  equally  effects  the  form  of  government  estab- 
lished by  every  other  denomination;  nay  more,  it  2:oes 
to  destrov  equally  the  baptism  of  infants,  the  obser- 
vance of  the  Christian  Sabbutli,  and  the  canon  of  scrip- 
ture itself. — Our  Lord  g;ive  no  recorded  instruction 
upon  any  of  these  subjects,  and  yet  they  were,  ih.Q  lat- 
ter especially,  innnitely  imp'ortant.  Much  controversy 
has  arisen  upon  the  authenticity  and  genuineness  of 
some  of  the  Epistles,  now  held  as  canonical.  Accord- 
ing to  the  argument  used  aiiaiost  Episcopacy,  they  can- 
rot  be  mair tamed.  *'U  this  were  so  impoituiii  a  mat- 
ter as  is  alleged,  our  Lord,  knowiog  it.s  liabilit"  to  doubt 
and  objectwin,  would  have  put  upon  it  some  certain 
mark,  bv  which  its  divine  character  might  be  infallibly 
demonstrated."  The  d^^sign  of  ourL'»'><  '^  lile  on  earth, 
appears  to  ha\ e  been,  not  so  much  to  o'*"  'ze  Ins  church, 
as  to  puichay  \t  bv  his  blood;  not  so  much  ^ven  to  in- 
struct us  in  \he  vvay  ot  salvation,  as  t<>  procure  it  for 
ns:  to  raise  u;>  men,  who,  by  his  spirit,  shmdd  teach  us 
more  fuiy  the  w^y  ot  the  Lod;  bv  1. is  illustrious  ex- 
ample to  shew  us  the  pa^h  nt  reliu'*^".  anc  by  his  resur- 
rection, to  teach  us,  thai  immortality  was  the  higli  pre- 
rogative of  our  nature  The  naUue  t*f  the  christian 
ministry,  the  areai  dic  rii-es  v(  vnan's  'epravity,  of  the 
atonement,  <d  justiiiv  \tion  thiough  faith  in  his  blood; 
these  he  left  to  be  fully  uutoiued  by  his  inspired  A"-^'- 


THE  BPISCOPAL  f'^NlTAL*  33 

ties:  ^'beingr  seen  of  them  forty  days  (after  his  resurree- 
tiori)  and  speaking;  of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  king- 
dom of  G«m1,''^'  what  they  did,  as  well  as  what  they 
taught  by  his  authority,  is  as  imperious  in  its  obligation, 
as  though  it  were  delivered  by  his  own  divine  voice; 
and  the  form  of  ji'ivernment  which  they  instituted,  as 
well  as  the  f(H*m  of  doctrine  which  thev  taught,  was,  no 
doubt,  according  to  the  pattern  received  by  them  from 
their  Divine  Master. 

A  great  commission  given  for  the  purpose  of  carry- 
ing into  effect  a  great  and  wonderful  system,  may,  witll 
propriety,  be  supposed  to  involve  the  power  of  npnoint- 
ing  inferior  officers.  Nav,  the  very  power  of  ordaining 
was  declared  to  be  inherent  in  the  very  act  by  whick 
they  thems'Mves  were  comiuissioned.  ^'•As  my  Father 
hath  sent  me.  even  so  send  I  you.  And  when  he  had 
$aid  this,  he  oreathed  on  thrm,  and  saith  unto  them, 
Beceive  ye  the  H<dy  Ghost."  If  there  oe  any  force  ia 
an  objection  which  has  been  raised  here,  that  the  power 
•f  ordaining  was  not  explicitly  mentioned,  ann  there- 
fore, could  not  be  so  important^as  that  of  preaching  and 
baptizing,  it  wouirl  lie  equally  against  the  administration 
of  the  Lord's  Sunper,  which  is  omitted  also  ia  he  wordi 
of  the  commission.  But  Christians,  generally,  do  not 
consider  that  sacrament  less  important  tiiaa  the  other. 

In  conformity  with  this  view,  we  find  the  Apostles, 
ttrly  after  their  co umission,  going  forth  and  ordainin^ 
others  to  offices  co-ordinate  with  their  own,  and  giving 
form  and  order  to  rhe  church  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  made  them  overs.^ers.  From  their  acts  and  epistles 
it  is  manifest  chat  ordination  was  never  performed  but 
by  the  higher  order;  although  the  Pre^iiyters  or  second 
order  assisted,  as  in  the  case  in  ordination  by  our  Bish- 
ops. In  the  separation  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  in  whicb 
it  might  seem  that  inferiors  undertook  to  ordain  to  the 
highest  order,  it  will  appear  upon  exaiuination,  tnat  ton 
was  not  an  ordiiation  out  merely,  a  selection  by  com- 
mand of  the  iioiy  Ghost  in  which  prayer  and  the  ccre- 

^Act*  1.  3. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MASCAL. 


raonyof  imposition  of  hands  were  used. — Dr.  Doddridge 
remarkintr  upon  this  place  savs,  *''rhat  these  were  now 
invested  with  the  apostolic  office,  by  these  inferior  min- 
isters, is  a  thing:  neither  credible  in  itself,  nor  consistent 
with  what  St.  Paul  himself  says,  Gal.  i.  5."  Another 
instance  is  related  1  Tim.  iv.  14.  vNeglect  not  the  gift 
that  if*  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy,  with 
the  laving  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery."  St.  Paul 
however  says  he  had  a  share  in  this  business.  "Where- 
fore I  put  thee  in  remembrance  that  thou  stir  up  the  gift 
of  God,  which  is  in  thee,  by  the  putting  on  of  my  hands.'* 
Although  it  is  the  usuage  of  our  church  to  have  three 
Bishops  at  the  ordination  of  a  Bishop,  yet  one  only  is  the 
ordainer.  VV  e  look  upon  this  as  essential  to  the  con- 
veyance of  due  authority,  and  the  addition  of  others  is  a 
circumstance  founded  upon  discretion,  and  made  vener- 
able by  usage. 

Thus  argued  that  respectable  body  of  Divines,  assem- 
bled at  Westminster  in  the  17th  century. — In  reply  to 
the  Independents  who  wished  to  prostrate  all  order,  and 
scouted  the  idea  of  succession,  the  Divines  tell  them 
"that  all  that  is  written  in  the  epistles  concerning  the 
ordainers  and  the  qualifications  of  the  ordained,  is  di- 
rected to  Timothy  and  i'itus:"*  **That  the  Apostles 
went  about  ordaining  elders  in  every  church,  and  that 
the  Apostle  Paul  ordained  Timothy  and  Titus:  That 
these  ordained  others,  and  that  as  Timothy  was  intrusted 
with  the  word  of  Christ,  so  he  was  commanded  to  com- 
mit the  same  to  taithtul  men,  so  that  there  might  be  a 
succession  of  teachers,  and  they  alone,  who  received 
this  church  power  tVum  the  Auostles  can  transmit  it  to 
other  ministers,  6ic.-'  As  tiie  church  multiplied  and 
some  of  the  Apostles  finished  their  course,  the  survivors 
appointed  otners  with  apostolical  authority  to  assist. 
Timothy  and  i  iius  were  consecrated  by  the  Apostle,  the 
former  Bisliop  oi  Ephesus,  and  the  latter  Bishop  of 
Crete,  with  power  to  ordain  Elders  or  Presbyters.  At 
PhiUipi  was  E|japhroditus,  whom  St.  Paul  styles  the 
Apostle  or  messenger  of  the  Phillippiaas,      St.  John, 

*  Jus  diyinum  p.  162. 


THB  EPISOOPAL  MANUAL*  35' 

'>¥hen  h«  was  an  old  man,  wrote  to  the  angel  of  the  church 
of  Ephesus,  of  Smyrna,  of  Pergamos,  of  Thjatjra,  of 
Sardis,  of  Philadelphia,  and  of  Laodicea.  The  word 
angel  signifies  a  messenger,  and  is  equivalent  to  that 
©f  Apostle.  Now,  to  suppose  that  there  was  only  one 
individual  minister  in  each  of  these  churches,  is  contra- 
ry to  all  tiie  facts  which  attest  the  progress  of  the  gos- 
pel irj  that  age.  Crete  alone,  of  which  Titus  was  Bishop, 
had  within  itself  a  hundred  cities.*  The  supposition 
that  this  Apostle  possessed  Episcopal  jurisdiction  over 
%,\\  Crete,  and  that  there  reside  at  those  places  addressed 
by  St.  Jolin,  a  person  of  like  diocesan  authority,  alone 
gives  consistency  to  the  facts,  and  force  and  propriety  to 
the  address  of  the  Apostle. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  title  of  Bishop  or  Over- 
seer, and  Presbyter  or  Eider,  is  sometimes  applied  to 
the  same  person,  in  the  New  Testament  — There  is, 
therefore,  no  arguing  from  the  name  to  the  office.  It  is 
to  the  office  and  not  to  the  name  we  must  look  for  the 
distinctive  chuiacter  of  the  primitive  ministry.  Ih 
the  first  place,  then,  there  were  the  Apostles  and  those 
associated  with  them,  as  Timothy,  Titus,  &c.  who  con- 
stituted the  first  order,  and  with  whom  the  power  of 
ordaining,  exclusively,  was  lodged;  secondly,  the  seven- 
ty, or  Bishops,  Presbyters,  or  Elders,  as  they  were 
promiscuously  called,  being  the  seconJ  order;  and  Dea- 
cons, who  were  allowed  to  preacii  and  baptize,  but  not 
to  perform  the  higher  ecclesiastical  ofiicesj  who  form- 
ed the  third  order.  Theodoret  gives  us  the  reason 
why  it  was  ttiought  expedieni  to  cliange  the  name  of 
the  first  order,  and  to  substitute  for  it  the  title  of  Bish- 
op which  had  oeen  indiscriminately  applied  to  the  se- 
cond order.  •'Formerly,  the  aaiue  perSuUa  were  called 
both  Presbyters  and  Bishops,  and  those  now  called 
Bishops,  weiethen  named  Apostles. — But,  in  process  of 
time,  cue  name  of  Apostle  was  left  to  those  strictly  so 

*  KfYirriv  iKo.T'^.fJiifQKkv.     Homer  II.  il649.     Ceatum  nrbes  ha- 
bitant magnas  Hor.  iii.  ode. 
fActs  yiii.  5. 


ss 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


€allef1,  and  the  name  of  Bishop  ascribed  to  ihe  rest." 
But,  ihou'jh  the  name  of  Apostle  was  laid  aside  out  of 
Teneration  to  their  character,  jet  their  office  was  still  pre- 
lerved.  The  extraordinary  powers  with  which  the  Apos- 
tles were  invested,  of  working  miracles.  &c.  were,  indeed, 
peculiar  to  themselves;  and,  not  being  so  necessary  to 
their  successors,  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,  as  in 
the  earlier  history  of  the  church,  have  not  been  trans- 
mitted; but  the  orioinal  commission  which  they  received 
from  the  Divine  Head  of  the  church,  involving  in  it  the 
great  principle  of  perpetuity,  by  which  he  was  to  be  > 
*'with  them  to  the  end  of  the  world,"  was  not  peculiar 
to  them,  but  was  to  be  carefully  transmitted  by  them  to 
their  successors,  and  by  these  to  others  to  the  end  of 
time.  Let  u-  proceed  then,  briefly  to  inquire  into  the 
form  and  strudure  v/hich  the  ministr}'  received  under 
the  hands  of  the  iinmetiiate  successors  of  the  Apostles. 

111.  '*Vv  ith  regard  to  the  order  and  government  of 
the  primitive  church,"  says  Dr.  Joi  nsin,  *'we  may 
doubtless  follow  the  authority  of  the  Fathers  with  per- 
fect security.  They  could  "not  possibly  be  ignorant  of 
laws  executed,  and  customs  practised  by  thenjselves; 
nor  would  they,  even  supposing  thvm  corrupt,  serve  any 
interest  of  their  ov\n,  by  handing  then)  down  to  poster- 
ity. We  are,  therefore,  to  inqrire  ir-  m  tlie  ditferent 
orders  also  establisi  ed  in  the  ministry  from  the  Apos- 
tolic ages,  the  difieient  employments  of  each,  their 
several  ranks,  subordinations  and  degrees  of  authori- 
ty."* To  the^e  remarks  may  be  added  the  farther  con- 
sideration, that,  ir,  hardly  any  of  their  writin^iS,  did 
the  early  fathers  professedly  treat  of  church  polity,  and 
of  course  the  rema»Us  upon  that  subject  cannot  be  as- 
cribed to  their  desire  of  supporting  a  partial  theory: 
and  althougii  it  must  be  confessed  that  many  of  them 
were  tincture*!  with  the  errors  of  thesclu.ols  from  which 
they  were  converted;  yet  this  does  not  nrnke  them  the 
less  credible  historians  ot  facts. 

Clemens  Romanus  who  was  contemporary  with  seve- 
ral of  the  Apostles,   in  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
*Sermone  left  fyr  pttbU^ftUoa  hj  Dr.  Taylor. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  BT 

mentions  jthe  High  Priest,  the  Priests  and  Levites,  in 
direct  allusion  to  the  standing  orders  of  the  church  in 
that  ao^e. 

I  Ignatius  who  suffered  martyrdom  but  four  or  five  years 
after  the  death  of  St.  John,  and  who  of  course  must 
have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  Apost'es  and  the 
government  of  the  church  in  those  days,  says,  **do  no- 
thing without  the  Bishop;  be  subject  to  the  college  of 
Presbyters;  and  let  the  Deacons  by  all  means  please  all 
men;  for  they  are  not  Deacons  of  meats  and  drinks,  but 
ministers  of  the  church  of  God." 

Ireneus,  Bishop  of  Lyons,  who  was  instructed  by 
Polycarp  the  disciple  ot  St.  John,  and  who  lived  within 
fifty  years  from  the  time  of  St.  John's  death,  says,  ♦•We 
can  reckon  those  whom  the  Apostles  appointed  Bishops 
in  the  churches,  and  who  they  were  that  succeeded  them 
down  to  our  own  times." 

Clemeat  of  Alexandria  who  live<l  also  about  the  same 
time  was  considered  the  most  learned  man  of  his  age.  In 
a  catechism  which  he  published,  he  lays  down  '^precepts 
which  concern  men  in  particular  stations;  some  of  which 
relate  to  Presbyters,  others  to  Bishops,  and  others  to 
Deacons."  He  also  informs  us  in  other  parts  of  his 
writings,  that  St.  John  after  his  return  from  Patmos, 
went  about  the  country  near  Ephesus,  and  in  some 
places  ordained  Bishops,  and  in  others  clergymen  by 
direction  of  the  Spirit.  And  again  speaking  of  Bish- 
ops, Priests,  and  Deacons,  he  says  he  thinks  they  re- 
semble the  order  and  deo;rees  of  angels. 

Tertuilian  about  twenty  years  later,  says  that,  "the 
power  of  baptizing  is  lodged  in  the  Bishop,  and  that  it 
may  be  exercised  by  Presd>yters  and  Deacons,  but  not 
without  the  Bishop's  commission." 

()rigen  who  lived  about  the  year  200,  and  Cyprain 
Bishop  of  Carthage  twenty  years  later,  inform  us,  that 
"Valerian  tlie  Roman  emperor  wrote  to  the  senate  that 
the  Bishops,  Presbyters  and  Deacons  should  be  prose- 
cuted." 


S8  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

St.  Jerome  who  wrote  about  the  year  S86^nd  whe 
did  not  pretend  to  be  any  thing  more  than  a  Presbyter, 
says  that,  "the  Bishops  are  the  successors  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and  they  hold  the  Apostle's  place  ar  cilice."  Again, 
"we  may  know  the  Apostolical  econ  riy  to  be  taken 
from  the  Old  Testament;  for  the  fame  that  Aaron,  his 
sons,  and  the  Levites  were  in  the  lempie,  the  Bishops, 
Priests,  and  Levites  are  in  the  church  of  God."  Speak- 
ing further  of  the  community  of  duties.  Delont^^ing  to  the 
different  offices,  he  says,  "for  what  does  a  Bishop  which 
a  Presbyter  cannot,  excepting  ordination.'**  **The  Bish- 
op is  chief;  though  every  Bishop  is  a  Presbyter,  every 
Presbyter  is  not  a  Bishop."t 

Travelling  down  the  course  of  ecclesiastical  history 
we  come  to  three  facts  which  we  think  confirm  these  im- 
plications. 1  wo  of  tneiii  occurred  in  the  fourth,  the 
other  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century.     The   latter 

*  Nam  quid  facit  Episcopus,  quod  non  Presbyter,  excepta  or- 
dinatione.     Comment.   1  Tito.  iii. 

f  It  is  proper  to  state  that  Jerome  has  been  cited  on  the  other 
side,  as  jjioving,  that  *'bcfc  e  therf  were,  by  the  instigation  of 
the  devil,  parties  m  reJig-ior; ,  and  re  was  said  among-  the  people, 
lam  of  Paul,  I  of  Apollos,  -^jiu.  T  of  Cephas,  the  churchfs  were 
governed  by  the  common  councik  of  Presbyters."  Aaniivungthe 
force  of  this  passage  m  the  fullest  sense  inicuded  by  those  who 
adduce  it,  it  proves  only  that  Episcopacy  was  the  onl)  cure  that 
could  be  found  by  the  Apostles  foi  the  evil  of  schism,  and  this 
is  certainly  saying  much'  in  iis  praise.  The  passage  cannot  be 
relied  on,  to  show  that  Bishops  and  Presbyters  were  the  same  of- 
ficers under  different  n?  nsa,  ;br,  besides  that  ciiis  could  never  be 
deduced  irom  any  natural  construction  of  it,  it  would  make  Je- 
rome contradict  himself  in  tiiose  other  numerous  passages  where 
he  asserts  the  existence  of  three  orders,  and  their  difterent  grades 
of  superiority.  He  tells  us,  indeed,  that  as  early  as  the  time  of 
St.  James,  that  Apostle  was  constituted  Bishop  of  Jerusalem  by 
the  hands  of  the  Aposiles.  The  testimony,  then,  of  this  writer 
as  far  as  it  goes,  establishes  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  in  which  he 
could  not  be  mustaker,,  and  which  he  had  no  motive  for  misrepre- 
Bentmg,  that  the  church  had  for  a  long  time  been  under  Episco- 
pal government.  His  opinion  as  to  the  reasons  which  led  to  this 
form  of  government  is  mere  opinion,  and  we  may  take  it  or  leave 
it  as  we  please.  In  either  case,  we  have  an  eulogium  on  Episc«- 
pacj,  since  that  alone  could  give  peace  to  the  church. 


TKB  EPISCOPAL  MASJXfAt.  S9 

ease  was  thus;  Musaeus  and  Eutychianus,  Presbyters, 
undertook  to  ordain.  But  the  council  of  Sardis  would 
admit  none  of  them  into  the  clergy.*  One  of  the  other 
two  case*,  was  that  of  Ischiras,  who  was  ordained  a 
Presbyter  by  C olluthus,  also  a  Presbyter.  Ischiras  was 
reduced  to  the  lay  communion  by  the  synod  of  Alexan- 
dria. In  the  synodical  epistles  of  the  Bishops  of  Egypt, 
Thebais,  I.vbia,  and  Pentapolis,  there  is  a  full  account 
of  it:  '"How  come  Ischiras,  say  they,  to  be  a  Presbyter, 
and  by  wh-  n  was  he  ordained.^  Was  it  by  Colluthus? 
But  Coiiuti'.us  died  a  Presbyter,  so  that  all  the  imposi- 
tions of  Ills  hands  are  null  and  void.'*  The  third  case 
was  attendee^  witti  the  same  circumstances. 

In  the  recent  ■liF'^.overy  of  the  Syrian  Christians,  inhab- 
iting the  inferior  of  Trayancore  and  Malabar,  there  is 
corroborative  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  Episcopacy. 
This  venerabiv  church  was  planted  by  St.  Thomas,  in 
the  early  ages  of  C',risti?inity,  and,  for  1300  years,  has 
enjoyed  a  sue  -  sion  of  Bis'iops  from  the  patriarch  of 
Antioch.  During  tiiis  long  lapse  of  time,  this  interest- 
ing people,  have  existed  in  the  wilderness,  like  the  bush 
of  Moses,  burning  ar  i  unconsumed.  Insulated  by  their 
idolatrous  neig.bojrs  they  huve  preserved  pure,  and 
uninterrupted,  t^e  orcier,  doctrine,  and  worship  of  a  re- 
gular church  under  Kpiscopal  regi'.nen,  with  its  three 
orders,  and  a  scriptural  liturgy,  and  in  short,  in  all  its 
essential  feature-,  rer^eiabling  \he  Proreatuat  Episcopal 
Church  in  Engiatvd  and  x\merica.  Differing;  from  the 
Church  of  Koaie,  they  have  but  two  sacra-neuts,  no 
image  worship,  no  p'lrgatory,  aid  married  clery;y. 
When  their  tranqui'  reff^at  was  invaded  by  the  Roman 
Church,  who  wished  to  rbrce  upon  them  a  conformity 
with  her  doctrines  and  c*^remonies,  they  retired  to  their 
mountains,  and  ther«  c'ler.^hed  and  preserved  the  inte- 
grity and  simplicity  ot  their  faith  and  worship.  How 
can  we  acc<»unt  for  all  'h  -.^  but  by  supposing  that  they 
received  Episopacy  bj)  succession  irom  tiie  Apostles, 
and  in  their  migration  fioin  the  west  carried  it  with 

*  IK'  Canon, 


40  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

them  into  those  retired  regions,  where  they  remain  a 
monument  of  its  antiquity,  and  of  the  truth  that  the 
Bible  and  a  scriptural  liturgy  can  preserve  a  church  in 
the  worst  of  tin  es?* 

••Upon  all  the  testimonies  of  the  ancients,"  says 
Bishop  Beveridge,  **it  may  be  observed  in  the  first 
place,  that  three  distinct  orders  of  ecclesiastical  minis- 
ters. Bishops,  Pries^^s  and  Deacons  in  the  age  immedi- 
ately succeeding  that  of  t4ie  Apostles,  were  constituted, 
not  in  one  place  or  other,  but  in  all  the  parts  of  the  ha- 
bitable world  then  known,  in  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa. 
If  therefore  there  were  no  other  this  is  satisfactory 
proof  that  the  three  orders  in  question  were  instituted 
by  the  Apostles  themselves:  for  it  appears  improbable 
that  churches  established  in  every  part  of  the  world,  and 
placed  at  so  great  a  distance  from  each  other,  should 
conspire  in  adopting  the  same  form  of  government,  un- 
less it  was  delivered  to  them  by  the  very  Apostles  who 
delivered  to  them  their  faith." 

It  is  universally  admitted,  that  Episcopacy  was  esta- 
blished as  the  exclusive  form  of  church  government,  in 
the  third  century.  Gibbon,  who  was  no  friend  to  hier- 
archy of  his  own  country,  says,  ''After  we  have  passed 
the  difficulties  of  the  second  century,  Episcopacy  seems 
to  have  been  universally  established,  until  it  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  republican  genius  of  the  Swiss  reform- 
ers." It  is  remarkable,  that  they  who  have  undertaken 
to  deny  its  antiquity,  have  never  been  able  to  agree  on 
the  time  when  it  commenced.  But  if  it  had  been  an 
innovation  introduced  after  the  times  of  the  Apostles,, 
should  we  not  have  had  some  information  of  the  fact, 
from  cotemporary  writers?  We  have  abundant  notice 
in  the  annr.ls  of  these  times,  of  the  strui^gles  for  power 
which  were  carried  on  between  thp  Bishops  of  Rome 
and  their  compeers.  The  disputes  about  the  mere  time 
of  keeping  Easter,  which  agitated,  and  almost  rent  asun- 
der the  Eastern  and  Western  chuich,  are  also  amply 
detailed.     Is  it  probable,  or  even  possible  then,  that  an 

*  Sec  Christian  Researches  in  Asia  by  Dr.  Buchanan. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  41 

usurpation  of  so  great  a  magnitude  as  that  involved  in 
Episcopacy;  an  usurpation  which,  on  this  supposition, 
must  have  raised  itself  on  the  degradation  of  the  great  ma- 
jority of  the  clergy,  could  have  been  superinduced,  with- 
out any  struggle  or  opposition,  and  without  any  notice  of 
such  an  event  in  all  the  records  of  antiquity?  The  sup- 
position appears  to  us  incredible.  As  such  an  usurpa- 
tion, then,  cainot  be  traced,  and  no  one  has  ever  yet 
been  able  to  rciint  out  the  period  of  history  subsequent 
to  the  Apostolic  aq;e,  in  which  Episcopacy  was  intro- 
duced, it  is  a  Ffir  liable  presumption,  that  it  was  the  or- 
der and  form  of  government  established  by  the  Apostles 
themselves. 

In  closing  the  remarks  on  this  subject,  it  may  not  be 
uninteresting  or  unedifying,  to  hear  the  sentiments  of 
one  who,  whether  he  be  considered  in  relation  to  his 
talents,  or  his  piety,  or  his  form  of  religion,  must  be  ac- 
knowledged as  of  great  authority  in  this  case.  Calvin, 
in  his  Institutes  (Book  iv.  Chap,  iv.)  shews  not  only  that 
the  government  of  the  church  in  the  primitive  times, 
was  conducted  by  three  orders  of  Bishops,  Priests  and 
Deacons,  but  he  adds,  that  every  province  had  among 
their  Bishops  an  Archbishop,  and  this  for  the  better  pre- 
servation of  discipline.  And  if  the  name  (Hierarchia) 
given  to  this  kind  of  government,  (adds  this  reformer,) 
were  omitted,  there  was  nothing  in  this  kind  of  govern- 
ment different  from  that  which  God  had  prescribed  in  his 
word.*  Among  the  manuscripts  of  Archbishop  Usher 
was  found  a  paper,  written  by  Archbishop  Abbot,  which 
explains  the  circumstances  that  had  caused  the  failure 
of  Calvin's  project,  for  a  general  union  of  the  Protes- 
tant churches,  on  the  basis  of  uniformity  of  worship  and 
government.  Among  other  causes,  the  principal  one  as 
alleged  is,  that  Calvin  "had  sent  a  letter  in  king  Kd- 
ward  the  Sixth's  reign,  to  have  conferred  with  the  cler- 
gy of  England  about  some  things  to  this  eli'ect,  whereas 

•  "Verum  si  rem,  omisso  vocabulo,  intuemer,  reperiemus  ve- 
leres  Episcopos  non  aliam  regende  eccleside  formam  voluisse 
fingere  ab  ea  quam  Deus  verbo  sue  pre  scripsit." 


42  THE  EPISOOPAL  MANUAL. 

two  Bishops  (Gardiner  and  Bonner)  intercepted  the 
same,  whereby  Mr.  Calvin's  overture  ppnshed.  And  he 
received  an  answer  as  if  it  had  been  from  the  reformed 
Divines  of  those  times,  wherein  they  checked  him  and 
slighted  his  proposals.  From  which  time  John  Calvin, 
and  the  Church  of  England,  were  at  variance  in  several 
points,  which  otherwise,  through  God's  mercy  had  been 
qualified,  if  those  papers  of  his  proposals  unto  the  Queen's 
majesty  had  been  received  during  John  Calvin's  life. 
But  being  not  discovered  until  about  the  sixth  year  of 
her  reign,  her  majesty  much  lamented  they  were  not 
found  sooner,  which  she  expressed  before  her  council  at 
the  same  time,  in  the  presence  of  her  great  friends,  sir 
Henry  Sydney,  and  sir  William  Cecil."* 

Had  not  the  death  of  Calvin  occurred  so  critically, 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  gladly 
have  cherished  an  union  with  the  Church  of  England 
upon  the  basis  of  Episcopacy.  That  he  considered  this 
as  **the  government  of  the  church  in  the  primitive 
times,"  appears  from  his  own  declaration,  and  that  he  re- 
commended also  the  establishment  of  "a  set  form  and 
method  of  public  service,"  is  also  equally  certain.  In 
fact,  in  his  letter  to  king  Edward  the  Sixth,  the  condi- 
tion of  his  proposed  union  with  the  church  was  that  there 
should  be  Bishops  in  all  the  churches.  This  plainly  ap- 
pears also  from  the  following  passage  in  his  work  enti- 
tled. The  Necessity  of  Retorming  the  Church:  "Let 
them  give  us  an  hierarchy  in  which  Bishops,  though 
above  the  rest,  may  not  refuse  to  be  under  Christ,  and 
to  depend  on  him  as  tlieir  only  head." 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  the  remark  may  again  be 
repeate'i,  that  the  evidence  in  favour  of  Episcopacy  is 
the  same  as  that  by  which  we  justify  the  chaoj;e  of  the 
Sabbath  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
and  the  same  as  that  by  which  we  ascertain  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  scriptures  themselves.  We  have  no  ex- 
press revelation  in  Scripture  on  these  latter  points;  and 
admitting  for   a  moment,  that   there  is  nothing  dedu- 


*  Strypes  Parker,  pp.  69,  70. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  45 

cible  therefrom  in  relation  to  the  former,  who  can  shew 
cause  why  the  practise  of  the  Apostles,  si  uuld  not  be 
our  guide  in  the  one  case  as  well  as  the  other?  What  they 
did,  they  did  by  divine  direction,  and  is  therefore,  of 
sacred  obligation.  It  is  universally  admitted  that  Episco- 
pacy was  very  early  established  by  the  Universal  Church, 
and  it  is  equally  undeniable,  that  it  continued  unin- 
terrupted, and  without  any  allowed  exception,  down  to 
the  time  of  the  reformation.  If  it  be  objected  here  that 
the  church  was,  for  a  great  part  of  this  time,  under  the 
Roman  power,  and  that  therefore,  this  is  a  muddy  chan- 
nel through  which  to  transmit  so  pure  and  sacred  a 
things — it  may  be  replied,  that  the  scriptures  themselves 
have  come  down  to  us  through  the  same  medium,  and 
that,  amidst  a  great  mass  of  corruption,  the  great  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  the  Bible  were  always  preserved 
by  that  church.  The  great  commission  of  the  ministry, 
as  well  as  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  are  incapable 
of  being  contaminated  by  the  organ,  through  which  they 
pass.  Thus  reasoned  the  Presbyterian  assembly  of 
divines  against  the  fanatics  of  the  17th  century,  who 
scouted  all  ideas  of  a  regular  succession  in  the  ministry. 
They  strenuously  maintain  this  great  principle  of  minis- 
terial succession  from  the  Apostles,  and  entreat  their 
congregations  '*not  to  be  affrighed  by  the  bugbear  words 
of  antichristian  and  popish."  That  "the  effect  of 
Christ's  ordinance  is  not  taken  away  by  the  wickedness 
of  men,''  as  our  26th  article  asserts,  is  a  truth  generallj 
admitted,  and  one  essential  indeed,  to  the  security  and 
comfort  of  every  Christian.  God  has  graciously  guarded 
us  against  all  such  insecurity  as  must  exist  if  the  effect 
of  the  ordinance  dtpends  upon  the  purity  of  the  minis- 
ter, by  bestowing  his  blessing  upon  every  lawful  admin- 
istration in  his  church,  so  that  **the  grace  of  his  gifts 
shall  not  be  diminished  from  such  as  by  faith,  and  rightly 
do  receive."* 

*See  Calvin  Instit.  lib.  iv.  eh.  15,  p.  16,  for  his  agreement  with 
this  sentiment. 


44  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  proofs  in  frivonr  of  the  Apostoli- 
cal authority  of  Episcopacy,  appear  to  be  as  great  as  the 
nature  of  the  subject  arimits  of.  When  we  add  to  this 
the  fitness  and  excellence  of  this  system  itself  in  pro- 
moting order,  uniformity  and  harmony,  and  all  the  great 
objects  of  its  institutior*,  we  cannot  but  be  sensible  of 
the  advantages  we  enjoy  in  belonging  to  the  Episcopal 
Churchj  and,  without  intending  any  ill  will  or  dis- 
respect to  others,  we  cannot  but  wish  that  they  could 
tiew  the  subject  in  the  same  light." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Of  the  Doctrines  of  the  Church  in  General. 

The  articles  of  the  church  were  framed  at  a  time  when 
the  reformed  religion  was  strutrjiiio;  for  existence  with 
the  power  of  Rome.  It  was,  therefore,  important,  and 
proper  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  essential  principles, 
to  construct  them  upon  a  phm  which  would  unite  all 
Protestants.  The  principal  points  of  ditference  among 
these,  at  that  time,  related  to  the  questions  of  Calvinism 
and  Arminianism.  It  was  necessary,  then,  to  compro- 
mise these  points,  and  to  leave  them,  as,  indeed,  we  must 
ever  be  content  to  leave  them,  on  the  ground  of  scrip- 
ture. Accordingly  the  articles  are  composed  with  such 
singular  wisdom  and  moderation,  that  all  who  hold  the 
essential  truths  of  the  Bible,  may  conscientiously  sub- 
scribe to  them,  however  they  may  differ  in  their  modes 
of  speaking.  The  17th  article  d«»es,  indeed,  recognize 
the  doctrine  of  predestination;  and  so  do  the  scriptures. 
But  the  main  question,  in  lohat  sense  it  is  to  be  received, 
the  article  does  Hot  undertake  to  decide.  '^That  in 
which  the  knot  of  the  whole  difficulty  lies  (says  Bishop 
Burnet)  is  not  defined  in  the  article;  that  is,  whether 
God's  eternal  purpose  or  decree  was  made,  according  to 
what  he  foresaw  his  creatures  would  do,  or  purely  upon 
absolute  will,  in  order  to  his  own  glory."  The  question, 
in  fact,  is  too  my^sterious  for  human  apprehension,  aud 
too  awful  to  be  onsitlered  without  the  profoundest  rev- 
erence. In  order  to  apprehend,  and  to  explain  it  aright, 
we  must  possess  the  spirit  and  language  of  angels.  The 
latter  we  shall  less  need  in  proportion  as  we  acquire  the 
former,  for  the  spii  it  of  Angels  is  not  a  spirit  of  contro- 
versy, but  a  spirit  of  meekness,  of  love  and  obedience. 
That  God  is  love;  that  he  desireth  not  the  death  of  a  sin- 


46  THE  EPISeOPAL  MANtJAt. 

Her;  that  he  wills  all  men  to  be  saved;  that  man's  salva- 
tion is  wholly  of  grace,  and  his  perdition  of  himself,  are 
propositions  clearly  laid  down  in  scripture.  If  there  be 
a  doctrine  which  seems  to  contravence  these  first  princi- 
ples of  religion,  we  may  conclude,  either  that  we  do  not 
understand  that  doctrkie,  or  that  it  is  false.  But  in 
carrying  this  rule  into  action,  it  should  be  kept  in  mind, 
that  we  have  no  right  to  deny  what  is  plainly  revealed  in 
scripture,  merely  because  our  conceptions  c^iiiiot  recon- 
cile it  with  the  known  attributes  of  God;  for  his  ways 
are  not  our  ways,  nor  our  thoughts  his  thouc;lats.  We 
see  and  know  only  in  part,  and  our  faculties  are  not 
large  enough  in  this  imperfect  state,  to  comprehend  the 
great  truths  of  the  Bible  in  all  their  bearings.  The  pro- 
fundities of  the  divine  foreknowledge,  especially,  in 
which  "one  deep  calleth  unto  another,"  baffle  our  most 
eager  researches. — They  can  be  explored  only  by  the 
light  of  Heaven,  which,  in  due  time,  will  explain  all. 
He  who  will,  notwithstanding,  rashly  adventure  in  this 
voyage  of  speculation,  will  only  meet  the  billowy  fate 
of  that  great  personage  whose  success  is  so  well  de- 
scribed by  Milton  in  the  following  passage. 


■His  sail  broad  vans 


He  spreads  for  flight,  and  in  the  surg-ing-  smoke. 

Uplifted  spurns  the  ground;  thence  many  a  league, 

▲s  in  a  cloudy  chair  ascending-  rides 

Audacious;  but  that  seat  soon  failing",  meets 

A  vast  vacuity;  all  unawares, 

Fluttering  his  pinnons  vain,  plump  down  he  drops 

Ten  thousand  fathom  deep. 

The  wit  and  ingenuity,  and  painful  labour,  which,  du- 
ring many  centuries,  have  been  exhausted  on  this  arduous 
question,  have  shed  no  new  light  upon  it,  nor  brought 
us  any  nearer  to  a  proper  understanding  of  it.  This 
consideration,  while  it  serves  to  lower  that  tone  of  dog- 
matism and  confidence,  with  which  we  are  prone  to  pro- 
nounce oft'  hand  upon  a  subject  which  has  cost  our  ances- 
tors many  a  folio,  should  serve  also,  by  reason  of  the 
inherent  difficulties  of  the  case,  to  cherish  in  us,  liberal 
and  charitable  sentiments  towards  those  who  differ  from 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  47 

US,  in  the  opinions  that  we  have  formed  in  relation  to  it. 
Tiie  writer  of  this  book  professes  to  be.  not  a  Calvinist. 
Some  of  the  tenets  of  that  reformer  l^e  cannot  embrace. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  he  believes  that  there  is  too  much 
reason  to  re^^iet,  that  Calvin  and  his  followers  have  re- 
ceived a  measure  of  severity  not  due  them,  especial- 
ly, from  christian  opponents;  and,  what  is  worse  in  its 
consequences,  that  some  of  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  our  common  chn-^^lanity  are  spurned  by  many  merely 
because  they  were  held  by  Calvin.  I'he  ^real  Hooker, 
speaking  of  Calvin,  says,  I  think  him  inco.nparabiy  the 
wisest  man  tliat  ever  t\\e  French  Church  did  enjoy,  since 
it  enjo}'eu  him."  Again  he  speaks  of  \\\m  as  *'a  worthy 
vessel  of  God's  glory.''  Bishop  Andrews  says  of  him, 
that  he  was  **an  illustrious  person,  mul  never  to  be  men- 
tioned but  with  a  preface  of  the  highest  honour."  Cram- 
ner,  hooper,  Jewill,  Nov, ell,  Whitgilt,  Whitaker,  Hall, 
Carleton,  Davenant,  Ubiicr,  Abbot,  &c.  bear  testimony 
to  his  great  r)\pty  and  learning. 

**The  Caiviaists,  indeed,  (says  Bishop  Horsley)  hold 
some  opinions  which  the  Church  of  Knglar.d  has  not  gone 
the  length  of  asserting  in  her  articles.  But  neither  has 
she  SJ^i^  the  lengrh  ot  explicitly  contradicting  those 
opinions."  Speaking  afterwards  of  supralapsarian  Cal- 
vinists,  he  says?  "such  was  the  great  Usher,  such  was 
Whitgift!  such  were  many  more  burning  and  shining 
lights  of  our  church  in  her  early  days,  long  since  gone 
to  the  resting  place  of  the  spirits  of  the  jusi." 

Again;  "any  one  may  hold  all  the  theological  opinions 
of  Calvin,  hard  and  extravagant  as  some  of  them  may 
seem,  and  yet  be  a  souiid  member  of  the  Church  of 
England,  certainly  a  much  sounder  meniber  than  one, 
who  loudly  declaiming  against  these  opinions  (which  if 
they  be  erroneous  are  not  errors  that  affect  the  essence 
of  our  common  faith)  runs  into  all  the  nonsense,  the  im- 
piety and  the  abominations  of  the  Arian,  the  Unitarian 
and  the  Pelagian  heresies,  denying  in  effect  the  Lord 
that  bought  him.  These  are  the  things  against  which 
^ou  should  whet  your  zeal,  rather  than  against  opinions, 
whieh  if  erroneous  are  not  sinful. 


48  THE  XPISIIOPAL  MANt7AL. 

Further;  *'Tf  ever  you  should  be  provoked  to  take  a 
part  in  these  disputes,  of  all  things  I  entr-at  you  to 
avoid  what  is  now  become  very  common,  acrimonious 
abuse  of  Calvinism  and  of  Calvin.  Remember,  I  be- 
seech  you,  that  some  tenderness  is  due  to  the  errors  and 
extravagances  of  a  man,  eminent  as  he  was  in  his  day, 
for  his  piety,  his  wisdom  and  his  learning,  and  to  whom 
the  reformation  in  its  beginning  was  so  much  indebted. 
At  least  take  especial  care  before  you  aim  your  shafts 
at  Calvinism,  that  you  know  what  Calvinism  is,  and 
what  it  is  not,  that  in  the  mass  of  doctrine  which  it  is  of 
late  become  the  fashion  to  abuse  under  the  name  of  Cal- 
vinism, you  can  distinguish  with  certainty  between  that 
part  of  it  which  is  nothing  better  than  Calvinism  and 
that  part  which  belongs  to  common  Christianity,  and 
the  general  faith  of  the  reformed  churches,  least  when 
you  mean  to  fall  foul  of  Calvinism,  you  should  unwari- 
ly attack  something  more  sacred  and  of  a  higher  orrgin. 
I  must  say  that  1  have  found  a  great  want  of  this  dis- 
crimination in  some  late  controversial  writings  on  the 
side  of  the  church,  the  authors  of  which  have  acquired 
much  applause  and  reputation,  bui  with  so  little  real 
knowledge  ot  the  subject,  that  give  me  the  principles 
upon  which  these  writers  argue  and  I  will  undertake 
to  convict,  1  will  not  say  Arminians  on'y,  and  the  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  but  upon  these  principles  1  will  undertake 
to  convict  the   fathers  of  the  council   of  Trent  of  Cal- 


'j 


vinism. 

''So  closely  is  a  great  part  of  that  which  is  now  igno- 
rantly  called  ('alvinism,  interwoven  with  the  very  rudi- 
ments of  christiacity.  Better  were  it  for  Ti^e  church  if 
such  apolojiists  w^ould  withhold  their  services,  non  tali 
auxilio,  nee  de  tensoribus  istis."* 

The  above  remarks  are  offered  in  the  spirit  of  conci- 
liation, and  with  the  hope  that  they  may  tend  to  peace. 
The  articles  do  not  appear  to  have  been  intended  so 
much  to  set  forth  a  precise  scheme  of  doctrine,  as  to 
embody  in  a  short  compass  the  very  language  of  the  Bi- 

*Bisliop  Horsley's  last  charge  to  th«  diocess  of  St.  Asaph. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  49 

ble  itself.  It  is,  therefore,  as  hopeless  a  labour  to  ex- 
tract from  them  a  regular  system  either  of  Arminianism 
or  Calvinism,  as  from  scripture.  Let  us  cease,  then, 
to  perplex  and  harass  ourselves  with  a  question  which 
only  tends  to  draw  the  attention  from  those  considera- 
tions that  are  absolutely  essential  to  the  rise  and  progress 
of  religion  in  the  soul.  The  doctrines  of  grace,  the 
doctrines  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  do  not 
depend  on  nice  theoretical  speculations.  But  they  do 
depend,  they  essentially  depend,  on  an  humbled,  docile, 
penitent  and  believing  heart.  There  must  be  a  sense  of 
our  depravity;  there  must  be  faithj  there  must  be  peni- 
tence; there  must  be  a  restoration  of  the  lost  image  of 
God;  and  lastly,  the  sanctified  effect  of  a  righteous,  god- 
ly, sober  life,  must  follow  this  restoration.*  These 
truths  our  church  faithfully  inculcates,  and  unceasingly 
enforces.  Let  us  listen  to  her  voice,  and  we  shall  be 
made  wise  unto  salvation. 


*See  Dean  Milner's  Sermons,  vol.  1,  p.  p.  142 — 149,  for  some 
valuable  reflections  on  this  subject. 


CHAPTER  V. 


On  Original  Sin, 

•'Original  sin,"  sa3^s  the  ninth  article  of  the  church, 
*'is  the  fault  and  corruption  of  the  nature  of  every  man, 
that  naturally  is  engendered  of  the  offspring:  of  Aclam^ 
whereby  man  is  very  far  gone  from  original  righteousness, 
and  of  is  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil,  so  that  the 
flesh  lusteth  always  contrary  to  the  Spirit;  and  therefore 
in  every  person  born  into  this  world,  it  deserveth  God's 
wrath  and  damnation.  And  this  infection  of  nature 
doth  remain,  yea,  in  them  that  are  regeiierated;  whereby 
the  luht  of  the  flesh,  called  in  Greek,  <i>^6)ir,^a,  o-a^^o?, 
which  some  do  expound  the  wisdom,  sonie  Sensuality, 
some  the  Aflectii-n,  some  the  Desire  of  the  Flesh,  is  not 
subject  to  the  Law  of  God.  And  although  there  is  no 
condemnati  n  for  them  that  believe  and  are  baptized; 
yet  the  \postle  doth  confess,  that  concupiscence  and  lust 
hath  of  itself  the  nature  of  sin." 

The  C  atechism  of  king  Edward,  which  was  one  of 
the^works  of  the  Reformers,  gives  the  f  Mowing  state- 
ment of  this  doctrine:  *'And  forthwith  the  image  of 
God  was  defaced  in  them,  and  the  most  beautiful  pro- 
portif»n  of  righteousness,  holiness,  truth  and  knowledge 
of  God  was  in  a  manner  confounded  and  entirely  blotted 
out.  There  remained  tht'  earthly  image  joined  with 
unrighteousness,  guile,  fleshly  mind  and  deep  ignorance 
of  godly  and  heavenly  things  Hereof  grew  the  weak- 
ness of  the  flesh,  hereof  c.  me  this  corruption  and  disor- 
der of  lusts  and  att'ections,  hereof  came  that  pestilence, 
and  iiereof  came  that  seed  and  nourishment  of  sins 
whereby  man  is  infected,  and  it  is  called  sin  original. 
Moreover,  thereby  nature  was  so  corrupted  and  over- 
thrown, that  unless  the  goodness  and  mercy  of  God  had 


THE  BPISCOPAL   MANUAT.. 


51 


helped  us  by  the  mediation  of  grace,  even  as  in  body  we 
were  thrust  down  into  all  wretchedness  of  death;  so 
must  it  needs  have  been  that  all  men  of  all  sorts,  should 
be  thrown  into  everlasting  punishment  and  fire  un- 
quenchable." 

And  thus  also  the  Homilies.  Treatinj^on  the  misery 
of  man,  th«'y  say,  '^Scripture  shutteth  up  all  under  sin, 
that  the  promise  by  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  should  be 
given  to  them  t'lat  believe."  St.  Paul  in  many  places 
painteth  us  out  in  our  colours,  calling  us  "the  children, 
of  the  wrath  of  (i<»d,  when  we  be  born;"'  saying  also 
that  we  cannot  thuik  a  good  thouitht  of  ourselves,  much 
less  can  we  say  well,  or  do  well  of  ourselves. 

**For  of  ourselves  we  be  crab  trees,  that  can  bring 
forth  no  apples.  We  be  of  ourselves  of  such  earth,  as 
can  bring  forth  weeds,  neftles,  brambles,  Uri-irs,  darnel 
and  cockel.  Our  fruits  be  declared  in  the  5th  chapter 
of  Galatians.  We  have  neither  faith,  charitj?,  hope, 
patience,  chastity,  nor  any  thing  else  that  good  is.  but 
of  God;  and  therefore  these  virtues  be  called  there  the 
fruits  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  the  fruits  of  man. 
Let  us  therefore  acknowledge  ourselves  before  God  (as 
we  be  indeed)  miserable  and  wretched  sinners.  And 
let  us  earnestly  repent  and  humble  ourselves  and  cry 
heartily  to  God  for  mercy.  Let  us  all  confess  with 
mouth  and  heart  that  we  be  full  of  imperfections:  let 
us  know  our  own  works  of  what  imperfections  they 
be,  and  then  we  shall  not  stand  foolishly  and  arrogantly 
in  our  own  conceits,  nor  challenge  any  part  of  justifica- 
tion by  our  merits  or  worKs." 

To  these  quotations  it  will  be  necessary  to  add  only 
the  sentiments  of  th^f  learned  Dr.  Isaac  Barrow,  who 
is  universally  reckoned  one  of  the  brigiuest  ornaments 
of  the  Church  of  CiOgland.  In  his  sermon  on  the  Koly 
Ghost,  his  words  are  "v/e  naturally  are  void  of  those 
good  dispositions  in  understanding,  will  and  atfection, 
which  are  needful  to  render  us  acceptable  to  God,  fit 
to  serve  and  please  him,  capable  of  any  favour  from  him, 
♦f  any  true  happiness  m  ourselves;  our  minds  natural- 
ly are  blind,|iguorant,  stapid,  giddy,  aod  prone  to  error, 


52  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

especially  in  things  supernatural,  spiritual  and  abstract- 
ed from  ordinary  sense.  Our  wills  are  froward  and 
stubborn,  light  and  unstable,  inclining  to  evil,  and  ad- 
verse from  what  is  truly  good 5  our  affections  are  very 
irregular,  disorderly  and  unsettled.  To  remove  which 
bad  disposition  (inconsistent  with  God's  friendship  and 
favour)  driving  us  into  sin  and  misery,  and  to  beget 
those  contrary  to  them,  the  knowledge  and  belief  of 
divine  truth,  a  love  of  goodness,  and  delight  therein, 
a  well  composed,  orderly,  and  steady  frame  of  spirits, 
God  in  mercy  doth  grant  to  us  the  virtue  of  his  Holy 
Spirit;  who  first  opening  our  heart,  so  as  to  let  in  and 
apprehend  the  light  of  divine  truth,  then  by  representa- 
tion of  proper  arguments  persuading  our  reason  to  em- 
brace it,  begetteth  divine  knowledge,  wisdom  and  faith 
in  our  minds,  which  is  the  work  of  illumiijation  and  in- 
struction, the  first  part  of  his  ofifice  respecting  our  sal- 
vation.* 

To  this  view  of  the  corruption  of  human  nature  some 
objections  have  been  made.  1.  It  is  said  that  many 
amiable,  virtuous,  and  noble  qualities  are  found  to  exist 
in  man,  and  that  therefore,  he  cannot  be  so  depraved 
as  is  here  represented. 

It  is  not  denied  that  the  human  character,  even  with- 
out the  aid,  or  the  knowledge  of  Christianity,  has  exhi- 
bited some  sublime  traits  of  virtue  and  excellence.  Man 
does  it  is  true,  exhibit  some  vestiges  of  that  original 
grandeur  in  which  he  was  at  first  created.  On  contem- 
plating his  condition,  we  are  like  the  traveller  who  lights 
upon  the  ruins  of  a  city  once  renowned  for  its  splendor 
and  power.  He  may  discover  in  it  some  traces  of  its 
former  magnificence,  the  sculptured  marble,  the  state- 
ly arch,  the  lofty  column — yet  it  is  a  receptacle  for  the 
serpent,  the  habitation  of  beasts  of  prey.  It  is  mag- 
nificence; but  it  is  magnificence  in  ruins.  And  truly 
we  may  say  the  same  of  human  nature. 

*  Genesis  vi.  5.  Eccles.  ix.  3.  Job  xiv.  1.  4.  Romans  iii.  10, 
xi.  32,     li.  Psalm.    Fccles.  vii.  10.     Isaiah  i.  6. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  Oo 

"How  poor,  how  rich,  how  abject,  how  august, 
"How  complicate,  how  wonderful  is  man." 

Generositr,  gratitude,  fidelity,  and  the  exercise  of 
many  high  and  heroic  virtues  between  man  and  man; 
the  spontaneous  applause  of  virtue  and  morality;  the 
decided  condemnation  of  immorality  and  vice,  may  be 
mingled  with  other  principles  of  action  in  themselves 
sinful  and  depraved,  and  may  dwell  in  a  heart  that  is 
enmity  against  God.  The  depravity  of  man  may  be 
traced  in  the  universal  reluctance  and  opposition  which 
are  found  in  his  heart  against  God  and  holiness.  If  the 
heart  were  not  thus  depraved,  communion  with  God 
would  be  the  natural  and  chief  delight  of  our  souls,  and 
prayer  and  praise  our  constant  language.  But  does  this 
appear  to  be  the  case?  Does  it  not,  on  the  contrary, 
require  force  and  violence  to  enable  us  to  set  our  affec- 
tions on  God,  and  to  deli.9:ht  in  communion  with  him 
and  in  beeping  his  comman  iments?  Does  not  this  show 
which  is  the  inherent  teiilency  of  our  minds,  and  in 
what  direction  the  current  would  naturally  flosv,  if  it 
were  not  opposed?  This  love  of  God,  this  -  illness 
which  delights  in  him,  far  from  maintaining  a  pi'^nonde- 
rating  influence,  is  never  found  to  exist  at  all  in  a  heart 
that  is  unrenewed  by  grace.  On  the  contrary,  '\i\  every 
man  in  his  natural  state,  there  is  a  root  of  bitterness, 
the  radical  element  of  depravity — -from  whiun  every 
species  of  iniquity  may  spring,  to  the  extinction  of  eve- 
ry innocent  and  virtuous  propensity,  if  such  have  ex- 
isted. The  exliibitions  of  virsue  that  are  to  ue  found  in 
the  unrenewed  man,  are  either  the  result  .  i  a  peculiar 
organization  of  his  frame,  and  in  that  case,  ao  more  de- 
serve the  name  oi  virtue,  than  the  possession  of  a  hand- 
some limb  or  feature;  or  else  they  may  bi  accounted 
for  on  some  of  the  principles  and  motives  of  policy  or 
interest  or  self-gratification,  which  are  the  ordinary 
springs  of  huiuiin  conduct,  and  in  that  case,  no  more 
deserve  the  reward  of  Heaven  or  tl>e  meed  of  praise, 
than  the  conduct  of  a  courtier,  who  is  noble  and  gener- 
5* 


54  '       THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

ous  and  honourable  tow  ards  his  peers,  in  the  hope  of  ob- 
taining their  applause  and  their  favour,  at  the  same  time 
that  he  is  cherishing  disloyalty  and  rebellion  against  his 
rightful  and  beneficent  prince.  Talk  not  of  noble  and 
generous  virtues,  in  him  who  is  ungrateful  and  rebel- 
lious towards  God.  **He  that  is  ungrateful  has  but  one 
fault,  all  other  faults  pass  but  for  virtues  in  him."  In 
the  sight  of  God,  neither  amiable  dispositions,  nor  bril- 
liant exploits  avail  any  thing,  but  a  new  creature.  It  is 
the  motive  alone  which  stamps  actions  with  value  before 
him.  **Works  done  before  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  the 
inspiration  of  his  Spirit,  are  not  pleasant  to  God,  foras- 
much as  they  spring  not  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ;  rather, 
for  that  they  are  not  done  as  God  hath  willed  and  com- 
manded them  to  be  done,  we  doubt  not  but  they  have 
the  nature  of  sin.*  Until  the  heart  is  renewed,  then,  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  whatever  may  be  the  fair  seeming  in 
which  the  exterior  man  decks  himself,  he  is  but  the 
whited  sepulchre  having  all  uncleanness  within.  His 
motives  and  principles,  being  earthly  and  corrupt,  viti- 
ate his  whole  character,  and  make  his  very  virtues  sins. 
To  man  who  sees  not  into  these  springs  of  action  these 
virtues  are  all  worthy  of  applause:  but  to  that  Being 
whose  eye  is  on  the  heart,  and  who  knows  all  its  cor- 
rupt imaginations,  they  are  but  splendid  sins  gilded  over 
with  the  mere  resemblance  of  virtue.! 

2.  It  is  farther  made  matter  of  objection  against  this 
doctrine,  that  it  involves  man  in  a  moral  catastrophe^ 
over  which  he  has  no  control,  from  which  he  has  no 
power  to  deliver  himself,  and  which,  therefore,  renders 
existence  itself  a  curse. 

If  man  were  under  such  a  physical  incapacity  to  ex- 
ercise his  reason  and  aiFections,  as  that^  which  attaches 

^^XTII  Article 

■j-  Whoever  wishes  to  see  this  important  subject  farther  dis- 
cussed, may  be  gratified  by  the  display  of  masterly  reasoning-, 
adorned  with  the  richest  charms  of  eloquence  in  Chalmer's  Ser- 
mons to  commercial  men,  and  his  subsequent  series,  in  which 
the  compatibility  of  whatever  is  lovely  and  of  good  report,  with 
the  native  depravity  of  the  human  heart,  is  demonstrated. 


THB    EriSCOPAL  MANUAL.  55 

to  a  lunatic  or  an  idiot,  then,  indeed,  his  case  were  as 
deplorubl^  as  the  otyection  makes  it,  and  it  might  seem 
unjust  to  punish  him  for  a  violation  or  omisgion  of  his 
duties.  But  the  fact  is,  man  labours  only  under  a  mo- 
ral  inability.  He  will  not  do  good,  because  he  loves 
evil.  And  this,  surely,  is  not  his  excuse,  but  his  fault. 
Though  man  is  corrupt,  an  adequate  remedy  is  provided 
for  him,  in  the  atonement  of  Christ,  and  the  sanctifying 
influences  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  are  offered  to  all. 
"As  by  one  man's  disobedience,  many  were  made  sin- 
ners, so  by  tl«e  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made 
righteous."  i'his  combined  view  of  our  fall  and  depra- 
vity, and  of  our  redemption  by  Jesus  Christ,  complete- 
ly dispels  the  p;loom  with  which  the  objection  would  in- 
vest it,  and  shows  the  dispensations  of  Heaven  to  be 
merciful  as  well  as  just.  No  man,  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, will  be  able  to  plead  incapacity  to  comply  with 
the  terms  of  salvation;  but  every  impenitent  sinner  will 
be  obliged  to  confess  that  his  perdition  has  been  volun- 
tary and  self-r  ocured,  and  in  opposition  to  the  most 
powerful,  proffered  aids,  and  the  most  affecting  motives. 
It  is  ipinitelv  important  that  we  form  right  notions 
on  this  g  cat  doctrine,  and  that  we  understand  and  feel 
the  deep  interest  we  have  in  it.  It  lies  at  the  founda- 
tion of  all  true  religion.  In  proportion  as  we  know  God, 
we  learr  also  to  know  ourselvesj  and  while  his  image 
in  us  is  daily  acquiring  new  lustre,  our  own  portraiture 
becomes  more  f^ark  and  gloomy.  They  who  have  made 
the  greatest  progress  in  holiness  can  best  tell  the  native 
malir  ity  of  the  human  heart.  Every  day  they  gain 
deeptr  conviction  of  their  own  failures,  and  mourn  with 
increasing  humiliation  over  the  corrugations  dwelling  in 
them.  "I  do  not  only  betray  the  inbred  venom  of  my 
heart,  (says  the  pious  bishop  Beveridge)  by  poisoning 
ni)  c©mmon  actions,  but  even  my  most  religious  per- 
formances also,  with  sin.  I  cannot  pray,  but  I  sinj 
1  cannot  hear,  or  preach  a  sermon,  but  I  sin;  I  can- 
not give  an  alms,  or  receive  the  sacrament,  but  I 
sin.  Nay,  I  cannot  so  much  as  confess  my  sins,  but  my 
very  confessions  are  still  aggravations  to  them.    My  re- 


56  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

pentance  needs  to  be  repented  of:  my  tears  want  wash- 
ing, and  the  very  washing  of  my  tears  needs  still  to  be 
washed  over  again  with  the  blood  of  my  Redeemer." 
And  what  shall  they  say  who  are  but  novitiates  in  reli- 
gion? Will  they  dare  to  feel  any  complacency  in 
their  own  merits  and  righteousness  before  him  in  whose 
sight  the  very  Heavens  are  unclean?  O  no.  If  but  a 
beam  of  mercy  from  the  everlasting  throne  dawns  upon 
our  souls,  are  not  our  spirits  ready  to  faint  within  us  at 
the  discovery  ef  that  light  which  should  refresh  and 
comfort  us.  If  our  hearts  but  for  a  few  moments  ascend 
in  faith  to  heaven,  are  we  not  melted  into  tears  at  our 
theughtless  ingratitude,  our  coldness  and  wanderings,  the 
fickleness  of  our  hearts,  the  tyranny  of  our  lusts,  which 
alienate  us  so  far  from  Him  *'who  loved  us  and  gave 
himself  for  us?''  Happy  are  we,  if  we  can  thus  lie  low 
before  the  footstool  of  Omnipotence,  and  feel  that  we  are 
miserable  sinners.  Then  shall  we  learn  to  value  the 
atonement  made  for  us;  then  abandoning  all  hopes  from 
ourselves,  we  fly  for  refuge  to  the  Redeemer.  Nor  shall 
we  fly  in  vain.  ''He  hath  been  made  sin  for  us  who 
knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  in  him."  * 'There  is  therefore  no  condemnation  to 
them  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  Their  sins  are  not  imputed 
to  those  who  believe,  who  mourn  over  their  corruptions, 
who  repent  of  their  failures  and  imperfections,  and  are 
continually  and  ardently  striving  after  holiness. 

As  to  the  origin  of  evil,  philosophy  and  reason  not  only 
fail  to  give  us  any  information,  but  tend  merely  to  be- 
wilder us  by  their  speculations.  Whatever  hypothesis 
we  may  adopt,  great  difficulties  will  be  found  to  attend 
the  subject^  for  it  is  one  too  deep  and  mysterious  to  be 
comprehended  by  our  finite  understanding.  Every  attempt 
of  a  priori  reasoning  only  serves  to  illustrate  the  value 
of  the  simple  account  which  we  have  of  it  in  the  Bible. 
Revelation  does  not  indeed,  wholly  clear  up  the  moral 
mysteries  by  which  we  are  surrounded;  but  she  gives  us 
the  only  solution  of  them  that  is  at  all  satisfactory;  and 
what  is  still  better,  she  tells  us  how  this  great  evil  may 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


57 


be  over-ruled  to  our  ultimate  and  eternal  happiness. 
She  removes  the  mystery  far  enou2;h  to  pour  in  upon  us 
her  immortal  lessons  of  patience,  calmness  and  hope. 
We  say,  far  enough;  for  the  knowledtre  of  finite  beings 
must  stop  somewhere.  It  is  now  received'was  an  incon- 
trovertible principle,  that  oravitation,  is  the  great  cause 
and  rule  of  the  various  phenomena  of  the  solar  system. 
Yet  what  can  be  more  incomprehensible  than  gravitation? 
In  what  manner  the  transgression  of  Adam  disturbed 
and  destroyed  the  adjustments  and  proportions  of  virtue 
and  holiness  in  which  he  wis  created;  —how  it  was  that 
an  offence  apparently  so  si  i  if  lit,  should  have  incurred 
such  a  penalty;  or  why  it  was  that  God  permitted  evil 
to  enter  into  his  creation  ami  niar  his  fairest  work; — 
these  questions  we  may  be  unable  satisfactorily  to  solve: 
but  this  we  know,  that  evil  doth  exist,  that  it  must  exist 
by  the  permission  of  God,  and  that  its  intnul action  by 
the  sin  of  eating  an  apple  contrary  to  the  command  and 
authority  of  God,  is  just  as  consonant  with  justice  and 
reason  as  the  introduction  of  it  in  any  other  imaginable 
way  whatever.  Suffice  it  for  us,  that  a  state  of  disci- 
pline and  probation  has  thereby  supervened;  and  that  a 
remedy  has  been  provided  by  which  we  cati  educe  from 
our  fall  an  infinite  and  eternal  good.  Though  by  nature 
we  are  that  depraved  being  which  has  been  described, 
we  become,  by  grace,  exalted  even  to  a  higher  dignity 
and  happiness  than  we  lost  in  Adam.  What  the  apos- 
tle intended  for  another  subject  will  apply  to  this: — 
"Even  that  which  was  made  glorious,  had  no  glory  in 
this  respect,  by  reason  of  the  glory  that  excelleth."— 
Thus  may  our  fall  and  ruin,  by  augmenting  our  eternal 
happiness,  and  ciis|jlaying  the  brightest  a^trioutesof  God 
in  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  serve  to  vindicate 
the  ways  of  God  to  man. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


On  the  Atonement, 

By  the  atonement,  we  understand,  that  offering  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  our  Saviour,  upon  the  cross,  whereby  he 
made  a  full,  perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation  and 
satisfaction,  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  "Him 
hath  God  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation,  through  faith,  in 
his  blood,  to  declare  his  righteousness  for  the  remission 
of  sins  that  are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God;  to 
declare,  I  say,  his  rio;hteousness,  that  he  might  be  just, 
and  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus."*  We 
do  not  profess  to  explain,  how  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is 
connected  with  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.  It  is  enough  for 
us  to  know,  that  it  is  declared  by  God,  to  be  the  only 
way  by  which  man  can  be  saved.  "Even  so,  Father,  for 
so  it  seemed  good  in  thy  sight. '- 

Is  it  said,  that  the  mercy  of  God  is  sufficient,  upon 
our  repentance,  to  do  away  our  sins,  without  resorting  to 
the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  his  Son?  But,  independently 
of  revelation,  which  assures  us  of  the  necessity  of  this 
mode  of  salvation,  who  can  demonstrate  the  mercy  of 
God?  It  cannot  be  deduced  from  the  works  of  creation. 
Volcanoes,  tornadoes,  earthquakes,  and  desolations 
which  often  dismay  and  overwhelm  the  inhabitants  of  the 
world,  would  rather  induce  a  contrary  belief.  If  we 
turn  to  the  human  condition,  and  contemplate  the  pains 
and  calamities  to  which  we  are  heirs,  the  same  conclu- 
sion seems  to  follow.  Go  to  the  cradle,  anU  see  the  in- 
fant who  never  yet  has  sinned,  writhing  in  agony  and 
8uff*ering.  Go  to  the  hospital,  where  thousands  lie 
with  mangled   limbs,  and    racked    with    tierce  pain?. 

*  Romans  iii.  25,  2«. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  59 

Viewed  by  all  the  light  which  reason  alone  can  shed  upon 
them,  these  things  would  lead  to  the  belief,  that  the  af- 
fairs of  this  world  were  either  left  to  the  contingencies 
of  a  blind  chance,  or  else  were  directed  bj  some  cruel 
and  relentless  being.  Can  reason  shew  cause  why  these 
scenes  of  disorder  and  suffering  will  not  be  perpetuated 
beyond  the  grave!  Upon  the  abstract  principle  of  jus- 
tice, the  degree  of  punishment  cannot  affect  the  argu- 
ment, since  it  is  as  just  to  inflict  undeserved  punishment 
for  a  year,  or  for  eternity,  as  for  a  day  or  an  hour.  The 
same  argument  which  would  claim  exemption  from  pun- 
ishment beyond  the  grave,  on  the  ground  of  mercy, 
would  render  the  same  exemption  necessary  in  the  pre- 
sent  state  of  things. 

The  some  considerations  may  be  applied  to  the  notion 
which  represents  repentance  as  available  to  our  pardon 
and  acceptance.  Every  day's  experienct-  convinces  us 
that  repentance  cannot  obviate  the  effects  of  intemperance, 
and  other  vices,  on  the  human  constitution.  Can  any 
one  prove,  that  the  effects  of  them  o  i  the  moral  constitu- 
tion are  different,  or  that  our  experience  will  be  different 
in  another  world. '^  Either  the  events  in  tbia  life  have 
not  been  arranged  by  justice  and  goodness,  or  the 
justice  and  goodness  of  God  are  not  necessarily  obliged 
to  remove  ah  evil  consequent  upon  sin  in  the  next  life. 

In  what  way,  in  truth,  can  deliverance  from  punish- 
ment be  supposed  to  be  connected  witb  repentance?  If 
our  obedience  were  pure  and  perfect,  it  couid  do  no  more 
than  answer  the  present  demands  of  justice.  "We  may 
as  well  affirm,  that  our  former  obedience  atones  for  our 
present  and  future  sins,  as  that  our  present  obedience 
makes  amends  for  our  antecedent  transgressions."* 
But  our  obedience  itself  is  imperiect.  There  is  none 
that  may  be  called  good,  no  not  one.  "If  we  could  say, 
we  were  not  guilty  of  any  thing  at  all  in  our  consciences," 
says  Hooker,  (''we  know  ourselves  far  from  this  inno- 
cency;  we  cannot  say  we  know  nothing  by  ourselves; 

*See  Magee  on  the  atonement,  a  book  worthy  of  the  perusal 
feoth  of  the  scholar  and  the  christian. 


60  THt  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

but  if  we  could,)  should  we  therefore  plead  not  guilty 
before  the  presence  of  our  Judge  that  sees  further  into 
our  hearts  than  we  ourselves  can  do?  If  our  hands  did 
never  offer  violence  to  our  brethren,  a  bloody  thought 
doth  prove  us  murderers  before  him;  if  we  had  never 
opened  our  mouth  to  utter  any  scandalous,  offensive,  or 
hurtful  word,  the  cry  of  our  secret  cogitations  is  heard 
in  the  ears  of  God.  If  we  did  not  commit  the  sins,  which 
daily  and  hourly,  either  in  deed,  word  or  thought  we  do 
commit;  yet  in  the  good  things  which  we  do,  how  many 
defects  are  there  intermingled!  God,  in  that  which  is 
done,  respecteth  the  mind  and  intention  of  the  doer. 
Cut  off  then  all  those  things  wherein  we  have  regarded 
our  own  glory,  those  things  which  men  do  to  please  men, 
and  to  satisfy  our  own  liking,  those  things  which  we  do 
for  any  by-respect,  not  sincerely  and  purely  for  the 
love  of  God;  and  a  small  score  will  serve  for  the  num- 
ber of  our  righteous  deeds.  Let  the  holiest  and  best 
thing  we  do  be  considered;  we  are  never  better  affected 
unto  God  than  when  we  pray;  yet  when  we  pray,  how 
are  our  affections  many  times  distracted r  How  little 
reverence  do  we  show  unto  the  grand  majesty  of  God, 
unto  whom  we  speak?  how  little  remorse  of  our  own 
miseries!  How  little  taste  of  the  sweet  influence  of  his 
tender  mercies  do  we  ft  el?  Are  we  not  as  unwilling 
many  times  to  begin,  and  as  glad  to  make  an  end;  as  if 
in  saving,  call  upon  me,  he  had  set  us  a  very  burden- 
some task?  It  n»ay  seem  somewhat  extreme,  which  I 
will  speak;  therefore  let  every  one  judge  of  it,  even  as 
his  own  heart  shall  tell  him,  and  no  otherwise;  1  will 
but  only  make  a  demand;  if  God  tshouUJ  yield  unto  us, 
not  as  unto  Abraham,  if  fifty,  forty,  thirty,  twenty,  yea, 
or  if  ten  good  persons  could  be  found  ir  a  city,  for  their 
sakes  that  city  should  not  be  destroyed;  but,  and  if  he 
should  make  us  an  offer  thus  large;  search  all  the  gene- 
rations of  men,  since  the  fall  of  our  father  Adam,  find 
one  man  that  hath  done  one  action,  which  has  passed 
from  him  pure,  without  any  stain  or  blemish  at  all,  and 
for  that  one  man's  only  action,  neither  man  nor  angel 
shall  feel  the  torments  which  are  prepared  for  both;  do 


THB  BPISeOPAL  MANUAL. 


61 


you  think  that  this  ransom,  to  deliver  men  and  an»els, 
could  be  found  among  the  sons  of  men?  The  best  things 
which  we  do,  have  somewhat  in  them  to  be  pardoned. 
How  then  can  we  do  any  thing  meritorious,  or  worthy 
to  be  rewarded?  Indeed  God  doth  liberally  promise 
whatsoever  appertaineth  to  a  blessed  life,  to  as  many  as 
sincerely  keep  his  law,  though  they  be  not  exactly  able 
to  keep  it.  Wherefore  we  acknowledge  a  dutiful  neces- 
sity of  doing  well;  but  the  meritorious  dignity  of  doing 
well  we  utterly  renounce.  We  see  how  far  we  are  from 
the  perfect  righteousness  of  the  law;  the  little  fruit 
which  we  have  in  holiness,  it  is,  God  knovvcth,  corrupt 
and  unsound;  we  put  no  confidence  at  all  in  it,  we 
challenge  nothing  in  the  world  for  it,  we  dare  not  call 
God  to  reckoning,  as  if  we  had  him  in  our  debt  books: 
our  continual  suit  to  him,  is,  and  must  be,  to  bear  with 
our  infirmities,  and  pardon  our  offences."  '^or  God  is 
not  a  man  as  we  are  that  we  should  answer  him,  and  we 
should  come  together  in  judgment.  Neither  is  there 
any  daysman  betwixt  us  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us 
both.'  So  that  as  to  any  justification  before  God,  upon 
any  ground  of  merit  or  obedience,  we  must  let  that 
alone  forever.  Upon  the  ground  of  mercy,  we  have,  as 
before  observed,  no  hope  except  upon  the  terms  which 
the  gospel  has  revealed.  Here  alone  are  we  informed 
how  the  mercy  of  God  can  be  exercised  consistently 
with  his  justice. 

<'Die,  man,  or  justice  must;  unless  for  him 
Some  other  able,  and  as  willing",  pay 
The  rig-id  satisfaction,  death  for  death." 

In  stating  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  some  have 
gone  to  the  extreme  of  representing  the  Almighty  as 
an  angry  Being,  who  could  be  rendered  placable  only  by 
the  death  of  his  Son.  But  it  will  be  seen  that  the  scrip- 
tures represent  it  as  following  purely  from  his  benignity 
and  love.  *'God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  He  determined  to 
6 


62  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

save  man,  and  he  adopted  this  method  of  effecting  that 
object  and  of  shewing  forth  the  infinitude  of  his  goodness. 
We  are,  perhaps,  not  even  permitted  to  say,  that  this 
was  the  only  way  in  which  he  could  save  a  sinful  world; 
for  who  can  set  bounds  to  his  wisdom  and  power?  But 
having  in  his  mercy  appointed  this  as  the  medium  of  our 
salvation,  it  is  certain,  that  there  is  now  **no  other  name 
under  Heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be 
saved."  As  far  as  our  capacities  give  as  leave  to 
judge,  we  perceive  that  all  the  works  of  God  are  works 
of  wisdom.  It  is  fair,  therefore,  to  infer,  that  the  same 
fitness  and  propriety  belong  to  those  subjects  which  are 
too  high  and  great  to  be  measured  by  human  under- 
standing. 

Far  be  it  from  us  t©  derogate  from  the  powers  of  rea- 
son. But  it  is  no  disparagement  to  the  eye,  to  say  that 
it  cannot  see  without  light;  neither  is  it  to  reason  to 
say,  that  however  perfect,  it  cannot  know  without  in- 
struction. '^Reason  is  that  which  knows;  but  in- 
struction is  the  cause  of  its  knowing;  and  it  would  be 
absurd  to  make  the  eye  give  itself  light  because  it  sees 
with  the  light,  as  to  make  reason  instruct  itself  because 
it  knows  by  instruction.  The  phrase,  therefore,  'lighfc 
of  reason,'  seems  to  be  an  improper  one;  since  reason  is 
not  the  light  but  an  organ  for  the  light  of  instruction  to 
act  upon;  and  a  man  may  as  well  take  a  view  of  things 
upon  earth  in  a  dark  night  by  the  light  of  his  own  eye, 
as  pretend  to  discover  the  things  of  Heaven  in  the  night 
of  nature,  by  the  light  of  his  own  reason:  nor  do  we 
derogate  from  the  perfection  of  reason,  when  we  affirm 
that  it  cannot  know  without  instruction,  any  more  than 
we  derogate  from  the  perfection  of  the  eye  when  we 
deny  it  has  the  power  of  seeing  in  the  dark." 

These  principles  are  applicable  to  the  great  doctrine 
now  under  discussion.  "Without  controversy  great  is 
that  mystery  of  godliness, — God  manifest  in  the  flesh.'* 
That  he  who  was  '*equal  with  God'*  should  become 
man,  and  humble  himself  unto  the  death,  is  a  mystery 
far  above  our  reason,  but  is  not  contrary  to  our  reason, 
*Phil.  ii.  6. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  63 

for  we  have  no  data  by  which  we  can  draw  any  demon- 
strations on  this  subject.     The  doctrine  of  transubstan- 
tiation  is  both  above  our  reasoji,  and  contrary  to  it  as 
well  as  to  our  common  sense,  and  therefore,  may  justly 
be  rejected.     But  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  stands  on 
wholly  ditFerent  grounds.     It  relates  to  the  subsistence 
of  that  awful   Being  who  is  far  removed  frofu  our  com- 
prehension, and  of  whom  we  can  know  i)0thi.j!;»;,  but  what 
he  vouchsafes  to  inform  us.     It  is  mingled  with  none  of 
those  accidents  which  bring  it  under  the  cognizance  of 
sense.     The  simplest  ideas  we  can  form  ot    Him  con- 
found and  humble  us.     To  consider  Him  .is  self-existent, 
and  uncreated,  as  being  from  everlasting  to  everlasting, 
without  beginning  or  end, — overwhelms  and  confounds 
all  our  conceptions.     To  suppose  him  as  possessed  of 
an  exuberance  by  which  he  iiows  into  three  persons  uni- 
ted in  one,   carries  with  it  nothing  more  ^leiplexiag  or 
improbable  to  our  reason  than  this.     We  must  take  rest 
then  on  the  ground  of  scripture.     Let  reason  canvass,  if 
it  will,  every  part  of  that  evidence  upon  which  revela- 
tion claims  our  credence;  let  it  jealously  scrutinize  the 
credentials  which  attest  its  divine  original;  but,  having 
been  convinced  that  the  Divine  Legislatorhas  here  spoken, 
let  it  not  presumptuously  attempt  to  decide  upon  the  fit- 
ness or  unfitness  of  what  is  revealed — let  it  not  stumble 
at  the  apparent  discrepancy  of  some  parts,  or  the  incom- 
prehensible mysteriousness  of  others;  but  learn  from  the 
analogies  of  nature,  that  though  these  things  are  high 
and  beyond  our  comprehension,  the  difficulty  may  arise, 
not  from  the  nature  of  the  things  themselves,  but  from 
the  finite  capacity  of   the  human  intellect — To  require 
of  reason  that  it  should  comprehend,  and  explain,  the 
essence  and    modes  of  revealed  subjects,  is   to  require 
what  it  is  unable  to  effect  in  regard  to  the  most  simple 
and  obvious  objects  in  nature,     if  there  be  a  vast  dis- 
proportion between  the  works  of  God,  and  the  capaci- 
ties of  man,  it  cannot  be  presumed,  that  a  knowledge  of 
the  divine  counsels  and  of  the  mysterious  subjects  rela- 
ting to  spirits  and  to  eternity,  should  be  accessible  to 
our  understandings. 


^4  t4ie  episcopal  manual. 

Some  abvocates  of  this  doctrine  have  inadvertently 
given  representations  of  it,  which  have  increased  the 
grounds  of  objection  that  are  alleged  against  it  by  its 
opponents.  It  is  therefore  thought  proper  to  refer  the 
reader  here  to  an  appendix  for  the  views  entertained  by 
the  church  on  this  subject,  and  for  some  proofs  of  it  as 
drawn  from  scripture.* 

The  great  doctrine  of  the  atonement  lies  at  the  foun- 
dation of  all  our  hopes.  Take  that  corner  stone  away, 
and  the  edifice  of  salvation  falls  to  the  ground.  Let  us 
ever  hold  fast,  then,  this  profession  of  our  faith.  By 
this,  and  this  alone,  can  the  problem  be  solved,  that  sin- 
ful man  should  escape  the  penalty  due  to  his  sins,  and 
that  God  should  retain  inviolate  his  attibute  of  perfect 
justice.  The  dignity  of  the  law  is  vindicated,  while 
pardon  is  offered  to  the  vilest  sinners.  God  is  rendered 
glorious  in  holiness^  yet  no  less  glorious  in  mercy,  for- 
giving iniquity,  transgression  and  sin;  yet  so  as  not  to 
clear  the  guilty.  A  just  God,  and  yet  a  merciful  Sa- 
viour. Just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  him  that  believeth 
in  Jesus. 

*See  Appendix  No.  3. 


CHAPTER  VIL 


On  Justification, 

<*We  are  accounted  righteous  before  GOD.  only  for  the 
merits  of  our  LORD  JESUS  CHRIST  by  faith  and  not 
for  our  own  works  or  deservings; — wherefore,  that  we 
are  justified  by  faith  only,  is  a  most  wholesome  doctrine 
and  full  of  comfort,  as  more  largely  explained  in  the 
homily  of  justification."*  ''The  Homily,"  says  Bishop 
Horsley,  **is  a  clear  and  perspicuous  exposition  of  this 
doctrine.  Its  language  is  as  folloyvs:  ''because  all  men 
be  sinners  and  olFenders  against  GOD,  and  breakers  of 
his  law  and  commandments,  therefore  can  no  man  by 
his  own  acts,  works  and  deeds,  (seem  they  ever  so  good) 
be  justified  and  made  righteous  before  GOD;  but  every 
man  of  necessity  is  constrained  to  seek  for  another 
righteousness  of  justification  to  be  received  at  GOD's 
hands,  that  is  to  say,  the  forgiveness  of  liis  sins  and  tres- 
passes, in  such  things  as  he  hath  offended.  And  this 
justification  or  righteousness  which  we  sq  receive  of 
GOD's  mercy  and  CHRIST'S  merits  embraced  by  faith, 
is  taken,  accepted  and  allowed  of  GOD,  for  our  perfect 
and  full  justification.  This  is  that  justification  of 
righteousness  which  St.  Paul  speaks  of,  when  he  says, 
'no  man  is  justified  by  the  works  of  the  law,  but  purely 
by  faith  in  JESUS  CHRIST." 

"To  be  short,  the  sum  of  all  St.  Paul's  disputations 
is  this — that  if  justice  come  of  works,  then  it  cometh 
not  of  grace;  and  if  it  cometh  of  grace,  then  it  cometh 
not  of  works.  And  to  this  end  tend  all  the  prophets. — 
'Of  CHRIST,  all  the  prophets,  'saith  St.  Peter,  «do 
witness,  that  through  his  name,  all  they  that  believe  in 

*  Article  xi. 


66  THE  EPiSCaPAL  MANUAL. 

him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins.  "    And  after  this  wise 
to  be  justified  only  by  this   true  and    lively  faith   in 
CHRIST,  speak  all  the  old  and  ancient  authors  both 
Greek  and  Latins;  of  whom  I  will  especially  rehearse 
three — Hilary,  Basil,  and  Ambrose.      St.  Hilary  saith 
these  words    plainly  in  the  ninth  canon  upon  Matthew: 
*Faith  only  justifieth.'     And  St.  Basil,  a  Greek  author, 
writeth  thus — 'this  is  a  perfect  and  whole  rejoicing  in 
GOD,  when  a  man  advanceth  not  himself  for  his  own 
righteousness?  but  acknowledgeth  himself  to  lack  true 
justice  and  righteousness,  and[  to  be  justified  by  only 
faith  in  CHRIST!'     And  St.  Ambrose  a  Latin  author, 
saith  these  words — 'This  is  the  ordinance  of  GOD,  that 
they  which  believe  in  CHRIST  should  be  saved  without 
works,  by  faith  only,  freely  receiving  remission  of  their 
sins;'  considering  diligently  these  words,  without  works 
by  faith  only,  freely  we  receive  remission  of  our  sins. 
These  and  other  like  sentences,  that  we  be  justified  by 
faith  only,  freely  and  without  works,  we  do  read  often- 
times in  the  best  and  most  approved  ancient  writers,  as 
besides  Hilary,  Basil  and  St.  Ambrose,  before  rehears- 
ed, we  read    the  same  in  Origen,  St.  Chrysostom,   St 
Cyprian,    Prosper,    Occumenius,    Proelus,    Bernardus, 
Anselm  and   many  other    authors,    Greek  and    Latin. 
This  faith   the  Holy  Scripture  teacheth  us;    this  is  the 
strong  rock  and  foundation  of  christian  religion?   this 
doctrine  all  old  and  ancient  authors  of  CHRST's  church 
do  approve;  this  doctrine  advanceth  and  setteth  forth  the 
true  glory  of  CHRIST;  and  beateth  down  the  vain  glory 
of  man;  this  whosoever  denieth  is  not  to  be  accounted 
for  a  christian  man,  nor  for  a  setter-forth  of  CHRIST'S 
glory;  but  for  an  adversary  to  CHRIST  and  his  gospel, 
and  for  a  setter-forth  of  man's  vain  glory.'' 

During  the  persecutions  which  took  place  in  the  reign 
of  Queen  Mary,  the  Reformers*  united  in  drawing  up  a 

♦The  persons  who  signed  the  confession  were,  Dr.  Robert 
Farrcr,  Bishop  of  St  David's;  Dr.  Rowland  Taylor,  Vicar  of  Had- 
ley;  John  Philpot,  John  Bradford,  Chaplain  to  Phihp  Ridgley; 
John  Hooper,  Bishop  of  Worcester;  Edward  Crome;  Lawrence 
Saunders;  Edmund  Lawrence:  Miles  Covcrdale. 


The  episcopal  i^iancal.  67 

confession  of  faith,  a  copy  of  which  has  been  preserved 
by  Fox.  It  ma^  not  prove  uninteresting  to  give  a  short 
extract  from  this  document,  as  further  shewing  the  pri- 
vate sentiments  of  the  reformers.  "We  believe  and 
confess,  concerning  justification,  that  as  it  cometh  only 
from  GOD's  mercy  through  CHRIST,  so  it  is  perceived 
and  had  of  none  who  be  of  years  of  discretion,  other- 
wise than  by  faith  only,  which  faith  is  not  an  opinion  but 
a  certain  persuasion,  wrouo;ht  by  the  HOLY  GHOST  in 
the  mind  and  heart  of  man 5  by  which  as  the  mind  is 
illuminated,  so  the  heart  is  supplied  to  submit  itself  to 
the  will  of  GOD  unfeigned ly,  and  so  showeth  forth  an 
inherent  righteousness,  which  is  to  be  discerned  [dis- 
tinguished] from  the  righteousness  which  GOD  endueth 
us  withal  in  justifying  us,  although  they  unseparably  go 
together." 

Bishop  Latimer  also  speaking  on  this  subject  says, 
^'Remission  of  sins,  standeth  in  CHRIST  our  Redeem- 
er; he  hath  washed  and  cleansed  us  from  our  sins;  by 
him  we  shall  be  clean.  But  how  shall  we  come  to 
CHRIS  r?  How  shall  we  have  himP—I  hear  that  he  is 
beneficial  as  the  scripture  witnesseth;  there  is  full  and 
plenteous  redemption  by  him;  but  how  shall  I  come  to 
it?  by  faith;  faith  is  the  hand  wherewith  we  receive  his 
benefits;*  and  this  faith  must  be  not  only  a  general  faith, 
but  it  must  be  a  special  taith;  he  believes  that  CHRIST 
is  come  into  the  world  and  hath  made  a  reconciliation 
between  GOD  and  man;  he  hatli  a  general  faith;  but  I 
say  that  every  one  of  us  must  have  a  special  faith,  I 
must  not  stand  in  generalities  as  to  believe  that  CHRIST 
suffered  under  Pontius  Pilale,  but  I  must  believe  that 
was  done  for  my  sake,  to  redeem  witli  his  passion  my 
sins,  and  all  them  which  believe  a'ld  trust  in  him."t 

"The  way  of  salvation  is  but  one,"  says  Bishop 
Home,  viz.  faith  in  CHRIST,  bringing  forth  the  fruits 
thereof;  and  none  but  those  who  preach  that  are  ser- 
vants of  the  Most  High  GOD,  and  show  unto  man  the 

*  Sermon  xxi.  p.  70. 

tSennon  xxiii.  p.  153,  and  Sermon  xi.  p.  72. 


S8  THE  El'ISeOPAL  MAK'tfAL. 

way  of  salvation.  The  fruit  receives  its  goodness  from 
the  tree,  not  the  tree  from  the  fruitj  which  does  not 
make  the  tree  good,  but  shews  it  to  be  so.  So  works 
receive  all  their  goodness  from  faith,  not  faith  from 
works;  which  do  not  themselves  justify,  but  show  a  prior 
justification  of  the  soul." 

To  these  extracts  which  might  be  multiplied  to  almost 
any  amount,  it  is  thought  unnecessary  to  add  more  than 
the  opinion  of  one  other  learned  and  judicious  writer. 
This  epithet  renders  it  almost  unnecessary  to  add  the 
name  of  Hooker.  "There  is  a  glorifying  righteousness 
of  men,  in  the  world  to  come,  as  there  is  a  justifying 
and  sanctifying  righteousness  here." 

"The  righteousness  wherewith  we  shall  be  clothed  in 
the  world  to  come,  is  both  perfect  and  inherent.     That 
whereby  we  are  justified  is  perfect,  butjnot  inherent.  That 
whereby  we  are  sanctified  is  inherent  but  not  perfect.'' 
*'The  righteousness  wherein  we  must  be  found,  if  we 
will  be  justified,  is  not  our  own;  therefore,  we  cannot 
be  justified  by  any  inherent  quality.      CHRIST  has 
merited  righteousness  for  as  many  as  are  found  in  him. 
There  is  two  kind   of    righteousness;  the  one  without 
us,  which  we  have  by  imputation;  the  other  in  us,  which 
consisteth  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  and  other  christian 
virtues.     God   giveth   us  both  the  one  justice  and   the 
other;  theoneby  acceptiug  us  for  rightheousin  CHRIST; 
the  other  by  working  christian  righteousness  in  us.     If 
here  it  be  demanded  which  of  these  we  do  first  receive, 
I  answer  that  the  Spirit,  the  virtues  of  the  SPIRIT, 
the  habitual   justice,  which   is  ingrafted,  the   external 
justice  of  JBiSUS  CHRIST  which  is  imparted;  these 
we  receive  all  at  one  and  the  same  time.     Yet  since 
no  man   is  justified   except  he  believe,  and  no  man  be- 
lieveth  except  he  have  faith,  and  no  man  except  he  hath 
received  the  Spirit  of  adoption  haih  faith,  forasmuch  as 
they  do  necessarily  infer  justification,  and  justification 
doth  of  necessity  suppose  them,  we  must  needs  hold 
that  imputed   righteousness,  in  dignity  being  the  chief- 
est,  is,  notwithstanding,  in  order  last  of  these."  ''Then 
althougjh  in  ourselves  we  be  sinful  and  unrighteous,  yet 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


69 


even  the  man  which  is  impious  in  himself,  full  of  iniqui- 
ty, full  of  sin:  being  found  in  CHRIST  through  faith, 
and  having  his  sin  remitted  through  repentance:  but 
GOD  upholdeth  with  a  gracious  eye,  pulteth  away  his 
sin  by  not  imputing  it,  taketh  quite  away  the  punish- 
ment due  thereto  by  pardoning  it,  and  accepteth  him  in 
JESUS  CHRIST,  as  perfectly  righteous,  as  if  he  had 
fulfilled  all  that  was  commanded  in  the  law;  shall  I  say 
more  perfectly  righteous  than  if  himself  had  fulfilled 
the  law?  I  must  take  heed  what  I  say;  but  the  Apostle 
saith,  'GOD  made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no 
sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  GOD  in 
him.'  *Such  we  are  in  the  sight  of  GiiD  the  Father, 
as  is  the  very  SON  of  GOD  himself.  Let  it  be  count- 
ed folly,  or  frensy  or  fury,  or  whatsoever;  it  is  our  com- 
fort and  our  wisdom;  we  care  for  no  knowledge  in  the 
world  but  this,  that  man  hath  sinned  and  that  GOD  hath 
suffered;  that  GOD  made  himself  the  son  of  man,  and 
that  men  are  made  the  righteousness  of  GOD."* 

Such  are  the  views  of  .the  doctrine  of  justification  as 
entertained  by  the  reformers  and  luminaries  of  our 
church,  such  also  is  the  view  entertained  by  Arminius 
himself.  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  our  articles,  our  lit- 
urgy, and  homilies,  and  above  all,  such  is  the  unequiv- 
ocal doctrine  of  holy  scripture.  By  grace  are  we 
saved,  through  faith;  not  of  works,  lest  any  man  should 
boast.  The  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  is  termed 
by  Luther  "the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  a  rising 
or  falling  church."  It  forms  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant points  of  distinction  between  the  Roman  and  the 
Reformed  churches:  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
works,  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Romish  church;  and  "it 
will  always  be  the  popular  doctrine,"  says  Buchanan, 
"among  Christians  who  have  little  true '  religion,  by 
whatever  denomination  they  may  be  called.  For  it  is 
the  doctrine  of  the  world;  it  is  found  where  the  name  of 
CHRIST  is  not  known;  and  it  is  the  spirit  of  every 
false  religion  and  superstition  upon  earth." 

*Discoui'se  on  Justification. 


70  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

To  this  view  of  justification,  two  objections  have  been 
urged,  which  it  will  be  proper  here  to  notice.  The  first 
is  founded  upon  the  apparent  discrepancy  between  St. 
James  and  St.  Paul,  and  which  supposes"  the  former  to 
maintain  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  works,  in  the 
common  acceptation  of  the  <^erm.  Much  of  the  diffi- 
culty will  be  removed  by  considerinjr  the  diiference  of 
character  in  those  whom  they  were  addressing.  St. 
Paul  had  in  view  those  who  were  disposed  to  look  for 
•salvation  by  their  obedience  to  the  ceremonial  and  moral 
law;  and  argues  against  them,  that  they  were  to  be  jus- 
tified by  faith  only,  without  any  works  or  deserving  on 
their  part,  yet  implying  as  he  has  elsewhere  expressed, 
in  unison  with  St,  James,  that  * 'faith  without  works  is 
dead."  Indeed  no  write.-  m  the  whole  Bible  more  stre- 
nuously inculcates  the  indispensable  necessity  of  good 
works  than  this  Apostle.  '^Though  I  have  all  faith  so 
that  I  could  remove  mountains,  and  have  not  charity  I 
am  nothing.  Now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity;  but  the 
greatest  of  these  is  charity.  Faith  worketh  by  love.  The 
end  of  the  commandment  is  charity  out  of  a  pure  heart, 
and  of  a  good  conscience,  and  faith  unfeigned.  Be  thou  an 
example  ot  the  believers  in  w(»rd,  in  conversation,  in  char- 
ity, in  spirit,  in  faith,  in  purity.  Be  perfect,  thoroughly 
furnished  to  all  good  works.  This  is  a  faithful  saying, 
and  these  things  I  will  that  thou  affirm  constantly,  that 
they  which  believe  in  God,  might  be  careful  to  maintain 
good  works — and  holiness  without  which  no  man  shall 
see  the  Lord."  Whoever  considers  these  and  many 
similar  precepts  enjoined  by  the  Apostle  Paul,  cannot 
justly  charge  him  with  preaching  a  licentious  doctrine. 
But  there  were  some  who  abused  his  doctrines  then,  as 
there  are  now  and  erronously  adopted  the  inference 
against  which  he  was  so  careful  to  warn  them. — **What! 
shall  we  sin  that  grace  may  abound  1"  It  was  such  as 
these  for  whom  St.  James  wio'e  his  epistle  They  pro- 
fess a  fnith  in  Christ,  and  supj)osed,  therefore,  that  they 
were  released  from  the  obligations  of  moral  duty.  To 
combat  this  dangerous  notiwii,  he  undertakes  to  prove, 
not  that  faith  is  not  essential  to  salvation,  not  that  we 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  Tl 

are  justified  by  faith  only,  but  that  such  a  faith  as  that 
which  did  not  produce  good  works,  was  a  dead  faith — 
was  not  the  faith  which  justifies — was,  in  fact,  no  better 
faith  than  that  of  the  devil.  ''Was  not  Abraham,  or  father, 
justified  by  works,  when  he  had  offered  his  son  Isaac 
upon  the  altar?  That  is,  did  he  not  by  that  act  of  holy 
obedience  prove,  and  display,  and  justify  that  living 
faith  which  was  imputed  to  him  for  righteousness?  Ye 
see  then  how  that  by  works  a  man  is  justified,  and  not  by 
faith  only;"  that  is,  he  proves  his  faith  to  be  genuine, 
while  it  thus  purifies  the  heart  and  works  by  love.  Such 
works,  proceeding  from  such  a  principle  as  that  which 
actuated  Abraham,  may  be  said  to  justify.  There  are 
some  who  suppose  that  the  Apostles  used  the  term 
"justify"  in  different  senses.  Tyndal,  one  of  our  re- 
formers, in  his  comment  on  the  place  says,  this  epistle 
layeth  not  the  foundation  of  faith  in  Christ,  but  speak- 
eth  of  a  general  faith  in  Uod;  that  faith  that  hath  no 
good  deeds  following,  is  ?  false  faith,  and  none  of  that 
faith  that  justifieth  or  receiveth  the  forgiveness  of  sin. 
I  have  no  objections  to  or  liiffiuSties  in  understanding 
St.  James'  langjuage  'for  deeds  aiso  justify;'  and  as  faith 
only  jutifies  before  God,  so  do  deeds  only  justify  before 
the  world."  But  supposing  the  Apostles  to  use  the 
term  justry,  as  it  is  p'obable  they  did,  in  the  same 
sense,  the  contradiction  is  only  in  appearance,  and  may 
be  fairly  reconciled  by  the  general  scope  of  each  writer, 
and  by  a  reference  to  the  case  of  Abraham,  upon  which 
the  whole  argument  turns.  If  St.  James  had  meant 
that  it  is  not  by  faith  but  by  works,  in  the  common  ac~ 
captation  of  the  term,  a  man  is  justified,  the  example 
of  Abraham  would  have  been  foreign  to  the  purpose. 
But  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  St.  James  does  not  say 
"vyhat  doth  it  profit  a  man  if  he  have  faith?"  though 
this  might  be  truly  said,  but  he  asks  "if  any  man  say 
that  he  hath  faith,"  evidently  meaning  that  he  merely 
says  this  without  any  foundation  for  so  saying;  "can 
such  a  pretended  or  false  faith  save  him?"  We,  who 
can  judge  only  by  the  outward  act,  can  determine  the 
strength  and  reality  of  a  man's  faith  only  by  his  works; 
^ut  God  knoweth  the  heart,  the  motive  and  action,  and. 


T^  tHE  BPISGOPAL  ilANUAt* 

can  infallibly  judge  of  the  character  by  this  sure  and 
unerring  standard.  A  man  may  have  a  true  and  lively 
faith  and  an  ardent  love  to  God  and  man,  and  yet  have 
no  opportunity  to  display  these  principles  in  practice, 
he  may  be  poor,  and  therefore  ^annot  abound  in  alms; 
he  may  be  low  and  obscure  in  life,  and  therefore  cannot 
exert  much  influence;  he  may  be  in  a  situation  similar  to 
that  of  the  penitent  thief  on  the  cross,  and  therefore  be 
out  off  from  the  power  of  showing  his  faith  by  his 
works;  but  if  faith  and  its  natural  accompaniments — 
the  principle  of  a  pure  and  fervent  love  to  God  and  man, 
a  sincere  and  earnest  desire  to  do  all  the  good  he  can, 
dwell  in  him,  his  faith  will  be  accounted  for  righteous- 
ness. *'To  him  that  worketh  is  the  reward  not  reckon- 
ed of  grace,  but  of  debt;  but  to  him  that  worketh  not, 
but  believeth  on  him  that  justifieth  the  ungodly,  his 
faith  is  counted  for  righteousness."  On  the  contrary, 
a  man  may  abound  in  splendid  actions,  he  may  give  all 
his  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  his  bodj^  to  be  burned, 
and  yet  his  works,  proceeding  not  from  true  charity  or 
love,  but  from  selfish  or  corrupt  principles,  are  worth 
nothing  in  his  sight  who  seeth  the  heart.  A  true  faith 
includes  in  it  holy  desires,  and  determined  purposes  of 
goodness,  and,  consequently,  the  elements  of  all  holy 
living;  and  being  as  much  the  subject  of  God's  cogni- 
zance as  the  very  actions  themselves,  he  imputes  to  it 
the  righteousness  of  actions  which  it  never  performed, 
but  which  he  sees  it  would  perform,  did  the  occasion 
admit  and  require.  Upon  this  principle  the  widow's 
mite,  and  a  cup  of  cold  water  given  with  right  motives, 
are  counted  more  worthy  of  honour  and  recompense, 
than  the  most  costly  oblations  given  otherwise.  This  is 
the  principle  upon  which  we  shall  be  judged  at  the  last 
day.  When  our  Saviour  tells  us  of  the  blessings  to  be 
pronounced  upon  the  righteous,  he  makes  the  whole 
value  of  their  character,  of  their  feeding  the  hungry, 
visiting  and  relieving  the  sick,  and  those  in  prison,  to 
turn  upon  the  circumstance  of  their  having  done  it  at  all 
in  his  name.  Abraham's  faith  was  imputed  to  him  for 
righteousness  without  works;  but  it  was  necessary  for 


THE  BI*ISCOPAL  MANUAL.  /  O 

him  to  give  some  proof  of  his  faith,  which  he  did  in  an 
eminent  manner;  and  thus  justifi^^d  his  pretensions,  jus- 
tified his  faith,  justified  himself  by  his  works.  We 
conclude  then,  that,  taking  the  whole  scope  of  the  two 
writers,  the  tenor  of  their  whole  sentiment,  and  ol'  the 
different  descriptions  of  persons  they  were  combatting, 
into  view,  there  will  appear  to  be  no  contradiction — that 
they  both  maintain  the  value  and  necessity  of  faith  as  the 
originating  principle  of  good  works,  the  ground  of  our 
justification;  and  also  the  necessity  of  good  works  as 
evidencing  that  faith  and  justifying  their  claim  to  that 
blessing. — The  sum  of  all  the  doctrines  of  scripture, 
and  one  also  which  approves  itself  to  right  reason,  is, 
that  the  value  of  works  depends  entirely  upon  the  motives 
w^iich  actuate  the  performance  of  them.  These  motives 
are,  love  to  God  and  a  regard  to  his  glory.  But  without 
faith  it  is  impossible  to  have  this  love,  these  motives  and 
consequently,  to  please  God. — Our  works,  then,  are  not 
meritorious  in  themselves,  because  they  derive  all  their 
value  from  faith,  and  faith  being  the  gift  of  God,  and 
accepted  in  return  by  him  through  the  merits  of  Christ 
they  must  forever  be  excluded  from  the  office  of  jus- 
tifying. But  they  are  the  indispensable  fruits  of  faith 
in  all  cases  where  there  is  opportunity  for  producing 
them;  they  are  the  evidence  of  faith,  and  as  such,  God 
is  pleased  to  reward  them,  not  on  their  own  account,  but 
on  account  of  the  principle  from  which  they  spring. 
In  accordance  with  these  views  is  the  doctrine  of  our 
eleventh  article.  "Works  done  before  the  grace  of 
Christ,  a)i'i  the  inspiration  of  his  Spirit,  are  not  pleasant 
to  God,  toiasmuch  as  they  spring  not  of  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  neither  do  they  make  man  meet  to  receive  grace; 
yea,  rather  for  that  they  are  not  done  as  God  hath  willed, 
and  commanded  them  to  be  done,  we  doubt  not  but  they 
have  the  nature  of  sin." 

The  second  objection  alluded  to  above  is,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  justification,  by  faith  only,  without  works,  seems  to 
untie  the  obligations,  and  necessity  of  good  works.  This 
has  been  partly  answered  in  the  declaration,  that  faith 

•  7 


T4  THE    EPISCOPAL  UANtJAI* 

itself  includes  in  it  all  the  elements  of  good  works,  and 
necessarily  leads  to  their  performance.  If  we  should 
say  that  the  eyes  cannot  do  the  work  of  the  hands,  does 
it  therefore  folloyv  that  the  eyes  have  not  necessary  func- 
tions to  perform?  Because  we  say  with  the  Apostle 
that  good  works  cannot  do  the  work  of  our  justification, 
does  it  follow  that  good  works  are  not  important  and 
necessary  to  salvation?  ''It  is  a  childish  cavil,"  says 
Hooker,  "  wherewith  in  the  matter  of  justification, 
our  adversaries  do  greatly  please  themselves,  exclaim- 
ing, that  we  tread  all  christian  virtues  under  our  feet, 
and  require  nothing  in  christians  but  faith,  because  we 
teach  that  faith  alone  justifieth;  whereas  by  this  speech 
we  never  meant  to  exclude  either  hope  or  charity  from 
being  always  joined  as  inseparable  mates  with  faith  in 
the  man  that  is  justified;  or  works  from  being  added  as 
necessary  duties  required  at  the  hand  of  every  justified 
man,  but  to  show  that  faith  is  the  only  hand  which  putteth 
on  Christ  unto  justification;  and  Christ  being  the  only 
garment  which  being  so  put  on,  covereth  the  shame  of  our 
defiled  nature,  hideth  the  imperfection  of  our  works,  pre- 
serveth  us  blameless  in  the  sight  of  God,  before  whom 
otherwise,  the  weakness  of  our  faith,  were  cause  suflH- 
cient  to  make  us  culpable,  yea,  to  shut  us  out  from  the 
kingdom  of  Heaven,  where  nothing  that  is  not  absolute 
can  enter.  We  acknowledge  the  dutiful  necessity  of 
doing  well;  but  the  meritorious  dignity  of  doing  well,  we 
utterly  renounce."  **Faith  does  not  shut  out  the  justice 
of  our  good  works,''  say  the  Homilies,  ''necessarily  to 
be  done  afterwards,  of  the  duty  towards  bod:  (for  we 
are  most  bounden  to  serve  God,  in  doing  gooc  deeds, 
commanded  by  him  in  the  scriptures  ail  the  dajs  of  our 
life:)  but  it  excludeth  them  so  that  we  may  not  do 
them  to  this  intent  to  be  made  jubt  by  doing  them. 
For  the  right  and  true  christian  faith  is,  not  only  to  be- 
lieve that  holy  scripture,  and  all  the  reioi  med  articles  of 
our  faith  are  true;  but  also  to  have  a  suie  trust  and  con- 
fidence in  God's  merciful  promises  to  be  saved  from 
everlasting  damnation  by  Christ;  whereof  doth  follow  a 
loving  heart  to  obey  his  commandments.     These  great 


TUB  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  7o 

411(1  merciful  benefits  of  God,  if  they  be  well  considered, 
do  neither  minister  to  us  occasion  to  be  idle,  and  to  live 
without  doin»  any  good  works,  neither  yet  stir  up  by 
any  means  to  do  evil  things;  but  contrariwise,  if  we  be 
not  desperate  persons,  and  our  hearts  harder  than  stone, 
they  move  us  to  render  ourselves  wholly  to  God,  with  all 
our  will,  heart,  might  and  power  to  serve  him  in  all  good 
deeds,  obeying  his  com  nandments  during  our  lives,  to 
seek  in  all  things  his  glory  and  honor;  evermore  dread- 
ing willingly  to  offe  d  such  a  merciful  God,  and  loving 
Redeemer;  in  word,  thought  or  deed.  And  the  same 
benefits  of  God,  deeply  considered,  move  us  for  his  sake 
also,  to  be  ready  to  give  ourselves  to  our  neighbour,  and 
as  much  as  lietli  in  u.s  to  study  with  all  our  endea- 
vours to  do  good  to  every  man.  These  be  the  fruits 
of  true  faith  to  do  good,  as  much  as  lieth  in  us,  to 
every  man;  and  above  all  things  and  in  all  things  to  ad- 
vance the  glory  of  God,  of  whom  only  we  have  oursanc- 
tification,  justification,  salvation  and  redemption;  to 
whom  De  ever  glory,  praise  and  honor,  world  without 
end."  "Faith,"  says  Tyndal,  "is  a  lively  thing,  mighty 
in  working,  valiant  and  strong,  ever-doing,  ever  faithful, 
so  that  it  is  impossible  that  he  which  is  endued  there- 
with should  m)t  always  work  good  works  without 
ceasing;  he  asketh  nut  whether  good  works  are  to  be 
done  or  not,  but  hath  done  them  aiready,  ere  mention  is 
made  of  them,  and  he  is  always  doing,  for  such  is  his 
nature."  Such  also  is  the  doctrine  of  our  twelf  h  article 
* 'Albeit  tiiat  good  works,  which  are  the  fruits  of  faith, 
and  follow  after  justification,  cannot  put  away  our  sins, 
and  endure  tlie  severity  of  God's  juflgment;  yet  they  are 
pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God  in  Christ,  and  do  sprint 
out,  necessarily,  of  a  true  and  lively  faith;  insomuch  that 
bj  them  a  lively  faith  m.iy  be  as  e'^vidently  known  as  a 
tree  discerned  by  its  fruits." 

So  far,  then,  from  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
alone,  being  licentious  in  its  tendency,  and -weakening 
the  obligations  of  liojy  living,  it  is  the  only  one  which 
can  guaranty,  with  certainty  this  gre^it  result.  Implant 
in  a  child  a  reverence  and  love  for  his  parentSj  and  you 


7^  THE  EPIS80PAL  MANUAL. 

more  effectually  secure  his  filial  obedience,  than  by  aii 
abstract   arguments  you   can   think  of,  on   the  fitness 
and  propriety,  and  utility  of  virtue.     While  his  heart  is 
disaffected  towards    his    parent,   his   obedience    will  be 
constrained  aad  partial ,  suited  to  his  own  convenience 
and  policy;  but  when    love  has  taken  possession  of  his 
heart,  he  will  deiight  to  hcmour  and  obey  i.is  commands. 
The  heart  of  man    in   his   unrenewed   state  is  enmity 
'Against   God.     Faith   is  the  instrument  through  v/hich 
the  holy   JSpirit  eftects  its  amelioration  and  works  by 
'ove.     To  preach  lo  one  in  this  state  on  the  beauty  and 
iitness  of  v.i  tue,  to  delineate  the  duties  of  morality  with 
never  so  graphic  ?,  band,  and  to  enforce  them  by  motives 
and  sanctions,  never  so  powerful,  will  be  as  ineffectual  as 
ihe  attempts  to  purify  the  stream  while  the  fountain  con- 
tinues impure,  or  to  adjust  the  irregularities  of  the  clock 
by  altering  the  index,  w  hile  the  main  spring  is  weak  and 
disordered.     The   beauty  and   fitness  of  virtue  are,  in- 
deed,proper  arguments,  but  they  must  be  subordinate 
to  the  higner  one  of  love  t;)  Christ  and  must  be  founded 
upon  faith  in  him,  or  else  they  will  leave  an  impression 
little  more  permanent  than   the  transient  passage  of  an 
object  on  the  polished  surface  of  a  mirror.     *'To  preach 
practical  sermons,"  says  Bishop  Home,  **i.  e.  seruions 
on  virtues  and  vice&,  without  inculcating  those  great 
scripture  truths   of  redemption,  grace,  &.c.  which  alone 
can  excite,  or   enable  us  to  forsake  sin  and  follow  af- 
ter  righteousness,    what  is   it  but  to  pu;   together  the 
wheels  and  set  the  hands  of  a  watch,  forgetting  llie  spring 
which  iS  to  n.ake  theiu  uil  go."     If  it  be  complained, 
that  in  dwelling  so  much  upon  faith,  we  neglect  the  mo- 
ral duties   we   reply  ThMt  we   must  tirst   sovv^   the  seed 
and   plant  the  routs  in  the  garden,  before  we  can  hope 
for  fruit.     And  wl.en  v.e  have  once  succeeded   in  plant- 
ing in  the  heart  the  principle  of  iaiih,  ciiensiied  by  the 
kindly  infiuenee  of  heaven,  it  will  yield  an  abundant  in- 
crease.    And  this  is  the  only  way   to  nave  good   fruit. 
W  hat,  in  fact,  is  the  indicative  process  prescribed  in  the 
gospell*^    vv  hat  does  it  require  of  those  wiio  are  imjuiring 
alter  salvation?     Does  it,  in  a  single  instance,  lell  them 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  77 

to  go  about  to  establish  their  own  righteousness,  or  to 
perform  any  good  work  as  preparatory  to  justification? 
The  direction  universally  is,  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Chrisst."  *'Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world."  ''If  I  be  lifted  up,"  says  the 
Saviour,  "I  will  draw  all  men  after  me."  This  is  God's 
way,  but  man  has  sought  out  many  inventions.  We 
shall  ever  find  our  labour  vain,  while  we  attempt  to  lop 
off  the  branches,  or  to  hang  on  the  tree  other  branches  of 
<L  better  sort;  these  will  die  for  want  of  the  support  that 
is  drawn  from  its  union  with  the  stock;  and  the  others 
will  soon  be  succeeded  by  those  of  the  same  base  kind. 
But  graft  the  stock,  and  you  will  have  the  fruit  you 
desire.  "I  am  the  vine,"  says  our  Lord,  **ye  are  the 
branches;  as  the  branch  cannot  bring  forth  fruit,  except 
it  abide  in  the  vine,  neither  can  ye,  except  ye  abide  in 
me."  *'As  the  father  hath  life  in  himself,  so  hath  he 
given  to  the  son,  to  have  life  in  himself,  and  he  quick- 
eneth  whom  he  will." 

Thus  the  merits  and  righteousness  of  Christ  will  be 
found  to  lay  a  firm  foundation  for  all  our  hopes,  while 
gratitude  for  his  dying  and  redeeming  love  will  suggest 
the  most  winning  excitements  to  duty.  In  this  way,  a 
vital  principle  is  superinduced,  which,  while  it  places 
morality  upon  its  proper  basis,  and  raises  it  to  its  utmost 
elevation,  strengthens  and  preserves  it  in  all  its  parts 
and  subordinations,  and  becomes  the  unfailing  spring, 
the  only  sure  guarantee  for  the  performance  of  its  high 
duties. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Repentance. 

The  word  which  we  translate  repentance  means  a 
change  of  mind.  It  implies  an  entire  revolution  in  the 
taste  and  appetites,  whereby  we  turn  with  disgust  from 
one  object,  and  with  a  proportionate  relish  towards  an- 
other of  a  different  quality.  There  is  no  subject  which 
requires  us  more  strictly  to  analyze  the  secret  springs 
and  movements  of  the  mind  than  repentance,  seeing 
there  is  none  upon  which  men  are  more  commonly  de- 
ceived; and  it  must  be  confessed,  there  can  be  none 
more  important;  inasmuch  as  a  true  repentance  is  essen- 
tial to  our  salvation.  Suppose  a  man  to  have  acquired 
a  fortune  by  dishonest  means,  it  would  be  surely  no  proof 
of  his  repentance  that  he  had  relinquished  his  dishonest 
practices.  His  heart  might  be  still  the  same;  and  though 
lie  committed  not  the  same  faults,  it  might  be  because  he 
wanted  the  occasion  or  the  necessity  of  so  doing.  A 
man  may  forsake  his  vices  because  they  are  no  longer 
necessary  to  his  pleasures,  or  because  he  has  no  longer 
the  power  to  comma  them;  he  may  be  sorry  for  his  sins, 
because  they  have  brought  upon  him  inconvenience  and 
distress:  But  a  genuine  repentance  makes  us  to  loathe 
them  in  our  hearts,  because  they  are  nauseous  to  the 
taste  and  infuse  a  sure  and  deadly  poison  into  the  sys- 
tem, and  because  they  are  committed  against  a  God  of 
infinite  goodness.  "Against  thee,  only,  have  1  sinned, 
and  done  this  evil  in  thy  sight.''*  "I  have  heard  of 
thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  now  ndne  eye  seeth 
thee;  wherefore  I  abhor  myself,  and  repent  in  dust  and 
ashes,  "t 

To  be  brief,  a  genuine  repentance  is  that  grace  of  the 
.-Joul,  by  which,  under  a  deep  and  affecting  sense  of  the 

*Pfif»Imli.4  fjobxlii.  5,6. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  79 

divine  mercy,  we  are  made  to  see  and  bewail  our  sins; 
to  turn  wholly  unto  God,  and  to  resolve  and  ewueavour 
to  serve  him  faithfully  for  the  time  to  come. 

And  to  oblige  you  to  a  speedy  resolution  in  this  mat- 
ter, consider  that  every  day's  delay  will  render  your  re- 
pentance more  diflBcult  and  uncertain,  that  the  evil  daj 
may  overtake  you  while  you  are  deliberating,  and  that 
sin  is  so  far  from  being  mortified  by  age,  that  every 
day's  indulgence  in  it,  increases  its  power;  and  so  much 
strength  as  we  add  to  our  disease  we  take  from  ourselves. 
And  this  is  a  double  weakening  of  ourselves,  when  we 
do  not  only  lose  our  own  strength,  but  the  enemy  gets  it 
and  employs  it  against  us.  Besides,  how  hard  is  it  for 
any  man  to  be  assured  of  the  reality  of  his  repentance, 
when  there  is  not  sufficient  opportunity  to  make  trial  of 
his  sincerity.  A  sick  man,  as  he  has  lost  his  appetite 
for  the  most  pleasant  meats  and  drinks,  for  the  same 
reason  finds  his  sinful  pleasures  nauseous  to  him.  And 
now  he  is  resolved  against  sin,  just  as  a  man  tiiat  is  sick 
is  resolved  against  meat.  But  if  the  fit  were  over,  and 
death  would  raise  his  siege,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  his 
former  appetite  would  soon  return  to  him,  and  that  he 
would  sin  with  the  same  eagerness  as  before.  Besides, 
how  can  we  exp  ct  that  God  will  accept  of  Our  repent- 
ance, when  we  are  conscious  to  ourselves  that  we  had  re- 
solved to  put  it  uft'  until  we  could  sin  no  longer.  Can 
we  think  it  fit  for  any  man  to  say  to  God  in  a  dying  hour, 
"Lord  now  the  world  leaves  me,  I  come  to  thee;  I  pray 
thee,  give  eternal  lifeto  me,  who  could  never  afford  to 
give  thee  one  good  day  oi  my  life.  I  must  confess,  that 
I  never  could  be  persuaded  to  leave  my  sins  out  of  love 
to  thee,  but  now  1  repent  of  them  for  fear  of  thee;  I  am 
conscious  that  I  never  would  do  any  thing  purely  for 
thy  sake,  but  yet  I  hope  thy  goodness  is  such  that  thou 
wilt  accept  this  forced  submission  which  1  now  make." 
Surely  none  can  think  it  fit  to  say  thus  to  God;  and  yet 
it  is  to  be  feared,  that  this  is  the  true  interpretation  of 
many  a  man's  repentance,  who  has  deferred  it  till  he 
comes  to  die.^    This  sentiment  is  not  urged  to  discou- 

*  Se«  an  excellent  sermon  on  repentance  in  Tillotson's  works. 


80  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

rage  repentance  eren  at  this  period.  It  is  always  fthe 
best  that  a  man  can  do  or  at  empt.  But  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted that  every  man  should  bf  «liscouraged  from  de- 
ferring this  necessary  work  till  so  unfavourable  a  moment, 
when  lethargies,  anxieties  and  pains  unfit  the  soul  for 
the  solemn  task  of  making  its  peace  with  God.  "Say 
not  then  that  God's  mercy  is  great,  and  he  will  be  paci- 
fied for  the  multitude  of  thy  sini*.  For  mercy  and  wrath 
are  with  him;  he  is  mighty  to  forgive  and  to  pour  out 
displeasure.  And  as  his  mercy  is  great,  so  are  his 
corrections  also.  Therefore  nake  no  longer  tarrying  to 
turn  to  the  Lord,  and  p  ii  not  off  from  day  to  day;  for 
suddenly  shall  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  come  forth,  and  in 
thy  security  shalt  thou  be  destroyed.  Humble  thyself 
before  thou  be  sick,  an  i  in  the  time  of  sins  shew  repent- 
ance. Let  nothing  hinder  i'\ee  to  pay  thy  vows  in  due 
time,  and  defer  not  till  death  to  be  justified."* 


Collect  for  Jlsh  Wednesday. 

Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  who  hatest  nothing 
that  thou  hast  made,  and  dost  forgive  the  sins  of  those 
who  are  penitent;  create  and  make  in  us  new  and  con- 
trite hearts,  that  we,  worthily  lamenting  our  sins,  and 
acknowledging  our  \>  etchedness,  may  obtain  of  thee, 
the  God  of  all  mercy,  |»erfect  remission  and  forgiveness, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  Amen. 

*  Eccles.  V  6.  and  xviii.  22. 


CHAPTER  IM3 


JPaith. 


As  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God,  it  is  of 
importance  t-iat  we  fairly  understand  the  fmndation 
upon  which  its  obligation  rests,  as  well  as  its  nature  and 
effects. 

In  order  to  derive  the  benefits  of  any  system,  we 
must  first  give  it  our  credence.  This  is  equally  true  of 
the  gospel  as  of  any  other  system.  If  the  gospel  be  the 
only  rule  of  salvation,  we  must  obey  it,  and  in  order  to 
obey  it  we  must  believe  it. 

That  it  is  the  only  rule  of  salvation  is  probable  from 
these  considerations,  without  the  gospel  man  never  did 
know  and  can  never  know   his  duty  to  God,  and  con- 
sequently,  cannot  possess  the  means  of  obtaining  his 
favour.      This   is  proved    by   an   impartial    appeal   to 
those   nations  who  have  been,   and    still  are   without 
the  light   ot   the   gospel.       They  are   not    acquainted 
with  the  simple  precepts  of  morality,  or  if  they  are, 
they  on   the   other   hand    allow   the  practice   of  vices 
which  must  offend  that  Being  who  delights  only  in  vir- 
tue.    They  offend  him  further  by  the  most  abominable 
rights  of  cruelty  in  their  religious  offerings.     '*  Where- 
with shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and   bow  myself  be- 
fore the  High  God?     Shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt 
offerings  and  calves  of  a  year   old?   shall    I  give  oi  the 
fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul;^"      1  iiese  are 
the  anxious   inquiries  of  human   i^ature;  and  miserable 
would  be  our  condition,  if  it  had  not  pleased  God  to 
shew  us  what  was  good,  and  that  to  love   mercy,  do 
justly,  and  walk   humbly  before  him   was   all  tiiat  was 
required  of  those  who  believed  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  propi- 


82  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

tiatory  atonement  for  the  sins  of  mankind.  Man  knows 
not  how  to  approach  God  with  a(  ceptance  but  through 
the  gospel,  and  failing  in  this,  the  first  rudiment  of  duty, 
he  cannot  reasonably  hope  for  the  divine  favour. 

Further,  if  man  be  an  accountable  creature,  the 
equitable  judgment  in  his  case,  must  have  reference 
to  rules,  and  the  favour  of  his  Jud-^e  may  be  suppo- 
sed to  depend  upon  his  observance  of  the  best  rules 
with  which  he  is  acquainted.  Now  it  is  confessed  that  a 
morality  so  pure  and  perfect  has  no  where  else  been 
taught  as  in  the  gospel.  So  that  if  men  desired  to  be 
good  men,  to  live  and  die  usefully  and  happily,  they 
would  meet  with  more  helps  and  motives  to  these  ends 
in  the  gospel  than  any  where  else.  Besides  this,  though 
reason  might  be  supposed  to  discover,  it  cannot  assist 
us  to  perform,  the  duties  upon  which  our  felicities  de- 
pends. In  both  these  views  the  gospel  becomes  neces- 
sary to  our  salvation,  by  its  furnishing  that  system  of 
morality  which  alone  is  acceptable  to  God,  and  by  giv- 
ing us  that  grace  without  which  he  cannot  do  what  we 
know  to  be  our  duty. 

So  perfectly  is  it  adapted  to  the  wants  of  mankind, 
that  reason  at  once  inclines  us  to  view  favourably  the 
evidence  which  it  brings  of  its  divine  origin,  and  it  may 
with  truth  be  afl&rmed,  that  he  who  with  an  honest  heart, 
and  a  love  for  truth,  and  a  desire  to  practice  it,  sets 
himself  to  examine  the  subject  without  prejudice,  and 
with  an  humble  appeal  to  the  divine  help,  will  perceive 
in  the  Christian  system  an  irradiation  of  heavenly  light, 
recommending  itself  both  to  his  understanding  and  his 
heart.  We  have  high  authority  for  this  seniiment  in  this 
declaration  of  our  Saviour,  ''If  any  man  wilt  uo  my  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  if  it  be  of  God."  On  the 
other  hand  he  has  authorized  the  opiriuu,  that  when  a 
man  does  not  discern  this  light,  and  refuses  his  belief, 
it  is  because  sin  has  obscured  or  enfeebled  his  mental 
sight.  He  loves  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  his 
deeds  are  evil." 

**It  is  not  in  general,"  says  Bishop  Porteus,  **the  want 
of  evdience,  so  much  as  the  want  of* virtue,  which  makes 


TSie  EPISCOPAL  &tAKUAZ»  iS3 

men  unbelievers."  It  is  not  with  the  head,  but  with  the 
heart,  that  men  disbelieve  unto  unrighteousness. 

If  this  be  true,  the  gospel  may  be  considered  as  the 
test  of  a  virtuous  state  of  the  heart,  and  it  would  seem 
to  follow,  that  when  we  plead  an  inability  to  believe  it, 
it  is  only  saying  that  we  are  too  sinful  to  relish  and  prac- 
tise its  holy  precepts,  too  strongly  wedded  to  our  lusts, 
to  welcome  that  sword  of  the  spirit  which  comes  to  make 
these  painful  separations. 

The  love  of  happiness  is  a  constituent  part  of  the  na- 
ture of  man,  coeval  with  his  existence,  and  through  eve- 
ry period  of  his  life  inseparable  from  him.  As  God  has 
surrounded  our  bodies  with  a  nervous  system,  which  by 
its  exquisitely  nice  sensibilities,  teaches  us  by  painful 
feelings,  what  to  avoid  as  being  injurious,  and  as  he 
who  runs  counter  to  these  feelings  is  an  enemy  to  his 
natural  life;  so  has  he  endowed  us  with  a  moral  sense, 
designed  to  guard  us  against  moral  evil,  and  he  who  vio- 
lates it  is  guilty  of  criminal  inattentiou  to  his  best  inte- 
rests. Men  can  never  cease  to  consider  themselves  ac- 
countable beings.  This  is  a  natural  sentiment,  the  plain 
result  of  that  reason  which  is  born  within  us,  and  be  it 
true,  or  be  it  false,  it  has  an  important  influence  on 
our  happiness.  Destined  then  as  we  feel  ourselves  to 
be  for  immortality,  there  rests  upon  us  a  moral  obligation 
to  use  every  means  of  securin*  our  happiness  in  that 
everlasting  state  to  which  we  are  travelling.  Now  when 
the  scriptures  declare  that  there  is  no  other  name  by 
which  we  may  be  saved,  but  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  when 
we  see  great  and  good  men,  who  have  studied  this  sub- 
ject with  an  earnestness  and  diligence  correspondent  to 
its  vast  importance  deliberately  concluding,  that  the 
evidence  which  supports  the  assertion  is  fully  establish- 
ed, and  resting  their  hopes  of  heaven  upon  that  founda- 
tion; surely  he  who  rejects  this  evidence  without  due 
care,  impartiality  and  labour,  and  without  aevoutly 
imploring  the  blessing  of  God  upon  his  endeavours, 
cannot  answer  t©  his  conscience  and  his  God  for  his  un- 
belief. 


84  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

Faith,  in  one  sense,  may  be  defined  as  consisting  not 
so  much  in  a  belief  of  any  abstract  religious  truth  or 
proposition,  as  in  a  sincere  attachment  of  the  heart  to 
God,  with  an  earnest  desire  to  know  and  do  his  will. 
And  he  who  has  these  dispositions,  may  be  assured  of 
the  blessing  of  Heaven,  displaying  itself,  not  perhaps  in 
worldly  riches  or  honors,  but  in  something  infinitely 
more  valuable — a  secret  influence  upon  his  heart  and  un- 
derstanding, to  direct  his  conduct,  to  improve  his  nature 
and  to  lead  him,  though  in  the  lowly  vale,  along  the 
path  of  peace.  Other  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than 
that  which  is  laid,  even  Jesus  Christ.  *'He  that  believ- 
eth  on  the  Son,  hath  everlasting  lite;  and  he  that  believ- 
eth  not  the  Son  shall  nut  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  him."  The  heathen  who  live  without  the 
law  are  a  law  unto  themselves,  but  even  they  will  owe 
their  salvation  to  the  great  atonement  offered  by  him 
who,  by  the  grace  of  God,  tasted  death  for  every  man, 
and  who,  by  his  sovereign  influence  pervades,  enlight- 
ens and  sanctifies  the  whole  moral  world:  for  verily 
there  is  no  other  name  under  Heaven  whereby  man  can 
be  saved. 

The  Nature  of  Faith. 

A  faith  which  consists  in  a  bare  assent  to  the  truth  of 
certain  propositions,  without  producing  any  change  of 
the  heart,  is  not  the  faith  which  pleases  God.  The  faith 
which  saves  the  soul,  is  not  barely  an  assent  to  the 
truths  of  revelation,  but  a  powerful  persuasion  of  the 
heart,  which  kindles  the  affections  and  animates  the 
conduct  in  the  love  and  practice  of  the  precepts  of  the 
gospel. 

This  kind  of  "faith  is  the  gift  of  God."*  It  is  not 
meant  here,  however,  that  the  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  supersede,  in  any  degree,  the  use  of  means — the 
necessity  of  rational  and  diligent  inquiry. 

But  it  is  evident  that  this  quality  cannot  be  wrought 
in  us  by  our  own  power.    No  man  in  this  sense  can  say 

*  Ephes.  iu  8. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  liAMUAI.  B5 

that  Jesus  is  Lord,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  "Blessed 
art  thou  Simon  Barjonas,  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  re- 
vealed it  to  thee,  but  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Our  Church  constantly  directs  us  to  the  Holy  Spirit  a« 
the  only  power  which  can  raise  in  us  this  wonder  work- 
ing faith.  In  the  collects  we  pray,  that  by  "his  holy  in- 
spiration we  may  think  those  things  that  are  good,"* 
that  *«by  the  same  spirit  we  may  have  a  right  judgment 
in  all  things,"!  that  he  would  "give  unto  us  the  increase 
of  faith,  hope  and  charity4 

**The  right  faith,"  says  St.  Basil,  "is  not  that  which  is 
forced  by  mathematical  demonstration;  but  that  which 
grows  in  the  mind  from  the  operation  or  energies  of  the 
Holy  Spirit"§  ''We  must  carry  this  yet  further,"  says 
Bishop  Burnet,  ''than  the  bare  believing  that  these  things 
(the  doctrines  of  Christianity)  are  true;  such  a  faith 
devils  have.  We  must  make  our  people  understand,  that 
this  faith  purifies  the  heart,  and  works  by  love;  and  it 
only  becomes  a  saving  and  justifying  faith,  when  upon 
our  entering  on  the  practice  of  those  rules  that  this  re- 
ligion prescribes,  we  feel  a  real  virtue  derived  into  us, 
that  makes  us  new  creatures,  and  gives  us  such  a  vital 
perception  of  the  truth  of  the  promises  made  us  in  it, 
that  we  receive  these  as  earnests  of  our  inheritance,  and 
so  taste  and  see  that  God  is  gracious  to  us.  This  makes 
us  living  stones  in  the  spiritual  building.!! 

^  Bishop  Pearson,  who  is  in  the  highest  esteem  as  a 
divine,  and  whose  work  on  the  creed  is  recommended  by 
the  house  of  Bishops  to  all  students  in  divinity,  says, 
"As  the  increase  and  perfection,  so  the  original  or  in- 
itiation of  faith,  is  from  the  spirit  of  God,  not  only  by 
an  external  proposal  in  the  word,  butb_y  an  internal  illu- 
mination in  the  soul,  by  which  we  are  inclined  to  the 

*  Collect  for  5th  Sunday  after  Easter, 
f  Collect  for  Whitsunday. 
t  Collect  for  14th  Sunday  after  Trinity. 
§  St.  Basil  in  Psalm  p.  195. 
jl  Bishop  Burnet's  charge. 
i  Bishop  Pearson  on  the  creed.     Article  8. 
8 


S6  THE    EPISCOPAL  MANtTAL« 

obedience  of  faith,  in  assenting  to  those  truths  whicfe 
unto  a  natural  and  carnal  man  are  foolishness.  And 
thus  we  affirm  not  only  the  revelation  of  the  will  of 
God,  but  also  the  illumination  of  the  soul  of  man  to  be 
part  of  the  office  of  the  spirit  of  God.-' 

"Illuminating  grace,"  says  Dr.  Ridley,  ''consists  not 
in  the  assent  we  give  to  the  history  of  the  Gospel,  as  a 
narration  of  matters  of  fact,  sufficiently  supported  by 
human  evidence,  for  this  may  be  purely  the  efiect  of  our 
study  and  learning.  This  sort  of  faith  is  an  acquisition 
of  our  own.     But  faith  is  the  gift  of  God." 

Dr.  Barrow,  "Our  reason  is  shut  up  and  barred  with 
various  appetites,  humours,  and  passions  against  Gospel 
truths;  nor  can  we  admit  them  into  our  hearts,  except 
God  by  his  spirit  do  set  open  our  minds  and  work  a  free 
passage  for  them  into  us.  It  is  he  who  commanded  the 
light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  that  must  as  St.  Paul 
speaketh,  illustrate  our  hearts  with  the  knowledge  of 
these  things.  An  unction  from  the  Holy  One,  clearing 
our  eyes,  softening  our  hearts,  healing  our  distempered 
faculties,  must,  as  St.  John  informeth  us,  teach  us  this 
sort  of  truths.  A  hearty  belief  of  these  seemingly  in- 
credible propositions  must  indeed  be,  as  St.  Paul  calleth 
it,  the  gift  of  God;  such  faith  is  not  as  St.  Basil  saith, 
engendered  by  geometrical  necessities,  but  by  the  effect- 
ual operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Flesh  and  blood  will 
not  reveal  it  to  us,  nor  can  any  man  with  clear  confi- 
dence say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord  (the  Messias,  the  infal- 
lible Prophet,  tiie  universal  Lawgiver,  the  Son  of  the 
living  Godj  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Dr.  Scott,  celebrated  for  a  book  entitled  "The  Christian 
Life,"  says,  ''without  the  Holy  Ghost  we  can  do  nothing. 
He  is  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,  who  worketh 
in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure.  Beside  the 
external  illuminations  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  there  is  also 
an  internal  one,  which  consists  in  inipressing  that  exter- 
nal light  and  evidence  of  scripture  upon  our  understand- 
ings, whereby  we  are  able  more  clearly  to  apprehend, 
and  more  cftectually  to  believe  it. 

"Justification  may  not  be  separated  from  good  works. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


8r 


By  faith  we  receive  Christ  such  as  he  offers  himself  to 
us.  He  however  not  only  delivers  us  from  sin  and 
death,  but  also  by  the  divine  influence  and  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  he  begets  us  again,  and  forms  our  hearts  to 
the  "love  of  innocence  and  purity,  which  we  term  pure- 
ness  of  life.  Therefore  justification,  faith  and  good 
works  are  so  connected  with  each  other,  that  nothing 
may  separate  them.  He  therefore  cannot  be  reckoned 
a  true  believer  who  does  not  avoid  sin,  and  follow  after 
righteousness  to  the  utmost  of  his  power."  Nowell's 
catechism.     True  faith  then  produces 

Works, 

"Albeit  that  good  works  which  are  the  fruits  of  faith, 
and  follow  after  justification,  cannot  put  away  our  sins 
and  endure  the  severity  of  God's  judgment;  yet  thej 
are  pleasing  and  acceptable  to  God  in  Christ,  and  do 
spring  out  necessarily  of  a  true  and  lively  faith;  in  so 
much  that  by  them  a  lively  faith  may  be  as  evidently 
known,  as  a  tree  discerned  by  the  fruit."* 

Thus,  "instead  of  retarding  our  progress  in  piety,  faith 
is  the  principal  means  of  exciting  us  therein. — There  are 
no  good  works  and  merits  by  which  we  may  procure  the 
iove  and  favour  of  God,  and  induce  him  to  deal  kindly 
with  us.  Yet  those  pious  duties  which  spring  from  faith 
working  by  love  are  pleasing  to  God,  not  for  their  own 
merit,  but  because  God  graciously  deigns  to  regard  them. 
For  although  they  flow  from  a  divine  principle,  yet  they 
never  fail  to  contract  a  pollution  from  the  intermixtion 
of  our  carnal  aftections.  It  does  not  follow  that  good 
works  are  of  no  importance,  because  they  are  ineffica- 
cious to  justification.  They  conduce  to  the  welfare  of 
our  neighbour  and  the  glory  of  God.  They  become  evi- 
dences of  God's  loving  kindness  towards  us,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  of  our  faith  in  God,  and  our  love  for  hia 
name,  and  thus  give  us  assurance  of  our  salvation;  and 
it  is  altogether  proper  that  we,  who  are  redeemed  by  the 
blood  of  Jesus,  and  loaded  with  innumerable  mercies, 

♦Article  12, 


88  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANL'AL. 

should  live  conformably  to  the  will  of  our  Redeemer, 
never  forgetting  the  obligations  under  which  we  are  laid 
of  always  studying  to  win  others  to  him  by  our  example. 
While  any  one  considers  these  things  with  himself,  he 
may  well  rejoice  in  his  works  of  faith  and  labour  of 
love.*'     Nowell's  catechism. 

"The  fruit  receives  its  goodness  from  the  tree,"  says 
the  pious  Bishop  Home,  *'and  not  the  tree  from  the 
fruit:  which  does  not  make  the  tree  good,  but  shews  it  to 
be  so,  because  men  do  not  gather  grapes  of  thorns.  So 
works  receive  all  their  goodness  from  faith,  not  faith 
from  works;  which  do  not  themselves  justify,  but  shew 
a  prior  justification  of  the  soul,  that  produces  them,  as 
it  is  written,  'We  know  that  we  have  passed  from  death 
unto  life»  because  we  love  the  brethren.'" 

Scarcely  any  subject  has  occasioned  more  disputes  than 
the  question  relating  to  the  power  of  man  to  work  right- 
eousness; it  being  contended  on  the  one  hand,  that  to 
suppose  man  as  not  having  this  power,  overthrows  the 
idea  of  his  free  agency,  and  on  the  other,  that  not  to  sup- 
pose it  were  to  undervalue  the  sovereignty  of  grace. 
And  thus,  by  those  who  have  carried  their  respective 
systems  to  the  greatest  lengths,  it  would  seem,  that 
either  the  power  of  man  must  supersede  the  grace  of 
God,  or  else  the^grace  of  God  must  exclude  the  power 
of  man.  Contradictory  as  these  two  suppositions  ap- 
pear to  be,  St.  Paul,  who  seems  to  have  understood  the 
matter  as  well  as  any  modern  commentator,  joins  them 
together,  and  calls  upon  Christians  to  work  out  their 
own  salvation,  for  this  very  reason,  that  it  is  God  who 
worketh  in  us  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure. 

The  metaphors  under  which  the  affairs  of  our  salvation 
are  represented,  are  taken  from  objects  which  are  fami- 
liar to  our  apprehension,  and  authorize  us  to  prosecute 
the  analogy,  which  plainly  seems  to  subsist  between 
nature  and  grace.  The  word  is  called  the  seed,  and 
the  human  heart  the  soil:  the  grace  of  God,  which  bring- 
eth  salvation,  appears  to  all,  and  deposits  in  every  heart 
the  seed  of  life.  The  instruments  which  convey  this 
grace,  like  the  husbandman  who  commits  his  seed  to  the 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  ^9 

field,  can  only  plant.  It  is  God  alone  who  can  give  the 
increase.  The  dew  of  heavenly  grace,  the  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the  prolific  beams  of  the  sun  of 
righteousness  must  refresh,  invigorate  and  mature,  the 
celestial  fruit.  In  vain  man  toils,  unless  the  fostering 
breezes  blow,  the  rain  descend,  and  the  reviving  sun 
temper  all  into  the  perfect  ear. — And  yet  these  great 
agents  would  be  ineffectual,  unless  laborious  man  did 
his  part.  The  rain  descends,  the  sun  pours  out  his  beams 
in  vain,  unless  the  husbandman  cultivate  and  stir  the  soil. 
So  in  the  work  of  salvation,  man  has  this  seed,  this  talent, 
this  grace,  this  manifestation  of  the  spirit  which  is  given 
to  every  man  to  profit  withal.  Herein  man  may  be  con- 
sidered as  having  no  moral  power;  he  cannot  change  his 
heart,  he  cannot  make  the  fruits  of  holiness  to  bud  forth 
and  blossom.  But  he  has  a  natural  power;  his  feet  can 
carry  him  to  the  house  of  God 5  he  can  read,  and  medi- 
tate and  pray;  he  can  in  his  way  lie  down  at  the  pool  of 
Siloam,  and  in  due  time,  if  he  continue  to  wait  upon  God, 
he  shall  receive  the  renewing  and  sanctifying  influences 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  worketh  all  in  all.  In  all  the 
variety  of  sentiment  entertained  upon  this  subject,  we 
cannot  well  err  if,  while  we  labour  towards  our  salvation 
with  as  much  diligence,  as  though  our  salvation  depend- 
ed on  our  works,  we  depend  no  more  upon  them  then  if 
we  had  done  nothing. 


CHAPTER  X, 


On  Divine  Influences. 

As  the  knowledge  of  the  true  religion  would  never 
have  had  an  existence  in  the  world  without  the  revela- 
tion of  God,  so  neither  can  it  have  an  existence  in  the 
soul  without  the  operation  of  God.     If  in  Him  we  live 
and  move,  and  have  our  natural  being,  shall  we  derive 
from  an  inferior  source  our  spiritual  life?    There  must 
be  to  us,  indeed,  from  the  nature  of  the  subject,  a  mys- 
teriousness  in  any  agency  which  relates  to  Spirit;  for  in 
its  nature  it  is  necessarily  removed  from  human  appre- 
hension.    Our  Saviour  represents  it  under  the  figure  of 
the  wind,  one  of  the  most  common  phenomena  of  nature 
visibly  and  powerfully  sensible  in  its  effects,  but  far  re- 
moved in  its  essence  from  our   apprehension.      **The 
wind   bloweth  where  it   listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the 
sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and 
whither  it   goeth;  so  is  every  one  that   is  born  of  the 
Spirit."*     The  same  power  who  brought  order  and  har- 
mony out  of  the  primeval  chaos,  is  necessary  to  quicken 
the  soul  which  is  dead  in  trespasses  and    sins.       Ac- 
cordingly, we  find  the  sacred  writers  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  constantly  ascribing  the  great  work  of 
man's  regeneration  and  moral  improvement  to  the  in- 
fluence of  that  Almighty  Agent,  whose  prerogative  it  is 
to  infuse  his  sovereign  energy  throughout  all  the  works 
of  his  hands. 

The  church  also  directs  us  to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the 
author  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift.  The  question 
proposed  to  those  who  are  to  be  ordained,  is,  "Do  you 
trust  that  you  are  inwardly  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to 
take  upon    you    this  office  and    ministration    to  serve 

God  for  the  promoting  of  his  glory  and  the  edifying  of 
•John  iii.  8. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL, 


91 


his  people?  I  trust  so,''  replies  the  candidate.*  In  the 
collects,  we  pray,  that  God  may  *<cleanse  the  thoughts  of 
our  hearts  by  the  inspiration  of  his  Holy  Spirit;"!  that 
he  would  * 'grant  us  by  the  same  Spirit  to  have  a  right 
judgement  in  all  things,  and  evermore  to  rejoice  in  his 
holy  comfort." 

*'The  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  says  Bishop  War- 
burton,  "is  to  enlighten  the  understanding  and  rectify 
the  will." 

**To  the  Spirit  enlightening  our  understanding,"  says 
Bishop  Hurd,  **purifying  our  wills,  and  confirming  our 
faith,  we  impute  all  that  is  good  in  us,  all  that  proficiency 
in  true  holiness,  which  qualifies  us  for  the  enjoyment  of 
Heaven.  If  a  ray  of  light  break  in  upon  us;  if  a  new 
degree  of  knowledge  be  imparted  to  us;  if  we  see  the 
truth  of  the  gospel  more  clearly,  in  any  respect,  than 
before  we  had  done;  we  cannot  mistake  in  ascribing  the 
additional  information  or  conviction  to  the  illuminating 
spirit  within  us." 

"If  we  perceive  our  devotions  to  be  quickened,  our 
hopes  enlivened,  our  faith  fortified,  we  shall  not  mistake 
in  ascribing  these  consolations  of  peace  and  joy  to  the 
Comforter;  we  may  regard  them  as  the  earnest  and 
pledge  of  the  spirit  in  our  hearts." — Ephes.  i.  14. 

"I  know,"  continues  he,  "this  will  appear  strange  to 
natural  reason.  But  so  the  scripture  has  prepared  us 
to  expect  they  would  do.  'For  the  natural  man,  (says 
the  Apostle,)  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  spirit  of 
God,  for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him. '  And  to  the 
same  purpose,  our  Master  himself  speaketh  of  the  Spirit 
of  truth;  'whom,'  says  he,  'the  world  cannot  receive, 
because  it  seeth  him  not,  neither  knoweth  him,  but  ye, 
(addressing  his  disciples)  know  him,  for  he  dwelleth  in 
you.'":i: 

Seneca  says,  "no  man  can  be  good  without  divine  as- 
sistance,"§  and  represents  the  "Deity  as  residing  in  the 

•Ordination  Service. 

f  Collect  for  communion  service  and  for  Whitsunday. 

i:Sermon  XVIII. 

§  Bonus  vir  sine  Deo  nemo  est.     Seneca  epist. 


92  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

human  body,"*  Cicero  tells  us  that  **no  man  was  ever  a 
great  man  without  divine  inspiration."!  "Bo  you  won- 
der," (says  Maximus  Tyrius)  that  God  was  present  with 
Socrates,  friendly,  and  prophetic  of  futurity — an  inmate 
of  his  mind?  A  man  he  was,  pure  in  his  body,  good  in 
his  soul,"  &c.  Plato  also  expressly  ascribes  the  improve- 
ment of  human  nature  to  the  supernatural  influence  of 
the  Divine  Spirit.J 

♦'There  is  in  every  righteous  man,"  says  Bishop  Tay- 
lor, *'a  new  and  vital  principle.  The  spirit  of  grace  is 
the  spirit  of  wisdom,  and  teaches  us  by  secret  inspira- 
tions, by  actual  persuasions,  by  personal  applications,  by 
effects  and  energies;  and  as  the  soul  of  man  is  the  cause 
of  all  his  vital  operations,  so  is  the  Spirit  of  God,  the 
life  of  that  life,  and  the  cause  of  all  actions  and  produc- 
tions spiritual.  There  is  in  the  things  of  God,  to  those 
who  practise  them,  a  deliciousness,  that  makes  us  love 
them,  and  that  love  admits  us  into  God's  cabinet,  and 
strangely  clarifies  the  understanding  by  the  purification 
of  the  heart.  For  when  our  reason  is  raised  up  by  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  it  is  turned  quickly  into  experience; 
when  our  faith  relies  upon  the  principles  of  Christ,  it  is 
changed  into  vision;  and  so  long  as  we  know  God  only 
in  the  ways  of  men,  by  contentious  learning,  by  arguing 
and  dispute,  we  see  nothing  but  the  shadow  of  him,  and 
in  that  shadow  we  meet  with  many  dark  appearances, 
little  certainty  and  much  conjecture:  but  when  we  know 
him  with  the  eyes  of  holiness  and  the  instruction  of  gra- 
cious experiences,  with  a  quiet  spirit  and  the  peace  of 
enjoyment,  then  we  shall  hear  what  we  never  heard,  and 
gee  what  our  eyes  never  saw:  then  the  mysteries  of  god- 
liness shall  be  open  to  us,  and  clear  as  the  windows  of 
the  morning." 

•  Deu3  in  humano  corpore  hospitans. 

I  Nemo  igitur  vir  magnus  sine  aliquo  afflatu  divino  usquam  fuif. 
Cic.  de.  Nat.  Deor. 

^  Plato  calls  it  the  gift  of  God  to  men  0£w»  £ir  AvO^ wTTotr  ^oo-»r. 
and  also  supernatural,  and  overcoming  nature  in  its  present  stat© 
of  imbecUity.     iu^taf  usrc^  <Pwk9  nxuaout  rnr  (Prrn* 


THE   EPISCOPAL   MANUAL. 


93 


"The  Spirit  of  God,"  says  Bishop  Bull,  ''which  in  the 
beginning  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  great  deep,  and 
invicrorated  the  chaos,  ,can,  when  he  pleases,  with  the 
greatest  ease,  cause  the  light  of  divine  consolation  to 
arise  on  the  dark  and  disconsolate  soul.  And  this  he 
often  doth.  I  may  here  appeal  to  the  experience  of 
many  good  Christians,  who  sometimes  find  a  sudden  joy 
coming  into  their  minds,  enlightening  their  understand- 
ings, dispelling  all  clouds  from  thence,  warming  and  en- 
livening their  affections,  enabling  them  to  discern  the 
graces  of  God  shining  in  brightness,  and  to  feel  them 
vigorously  acting  in  their  souls,  so  that  they  have  been, 
after  a  sort,  transfigured  with  their  Saviour,  and  wished 
with  St.  Peter,  that  they  might  always  dwell  on  that 
mount  Tabor." 

Bishop  Smalridge:  *'The  humble  and  devout  Christian 
being  thus  satisfied  of  the  necessity  of  God's  grace, 
both  from  his  own  experience  and  from  the  scriptures, 
and  being  assured  of  the  vital  influences  of  this  spirit 
from  the  promises  made  to  him  in  the  gospel,  will  not  be 
over  curious  to  enquire  into  the  secret  and  inconceivable 
manner  of  its  operation.  He  will  choose  rather  to  feel 
those  influences,  than  to  understand  or  explain  them, 
and  will  not  doubt  of  that  power,  which,  though  he  can- 
not give  an  account  of  as  to  the  manner  of  its  working, 
he  plainly  perceives  to  be  great  and  marvellous  from  its 
mighty  and  wonderful  effects:  for  when,  in  reading  the 
holy  scriptures,  he  finds  the  veil  of  darkness  removed 
from  before  his  understanding;  when  those  clouds  of  ig- 
norance, that  had  overcast  his  mind,  are  presently  dis- 
persed; when  the  doubts  under  which  he  had  for  some 
time  laboured,  are  on  a  sudden  cleared;  when  such  pioug 
thoughts  as  were  wont  to  pass  transiently,  are  long  dwelt 
upon,  so  as  to  leave  behind  them  deep  and  lasting  im- 
pressions; when  these  are  suggested  to  him  without  his 
seeking,  and  are  urged  and  pressed  upon  him  so  impor- 
tunately, that  he  cannot  choose  but  listen  to  them;  if 
when  he  finds  a  sudden  impulse  upon  his  spirits,  rousing 
him  up  to  the  performance  of  some  important  duty;  or 
an  unexpected  check  stopping  him  in  the  midst  of  his 


94  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

course,  when  he  is  rushing  on  blindly  and  impetuously 
to  the  commission  of  some  heinous  sin:  when  in  his  de- 
votions, he  finds  his  attention  fixed,  his  affections  in- 
flamed, and  his  heart  melted  within;  when,  while  the 
voice  of  God's  minister  preaching  the  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel sounds  in  his  ears,  he  is  sensible  of  an  inward  voice 
speaking  with  greater  force  and  efficacy  to  his  soul,  to 
his  understanding  and  his  heart;  when  under  the  pres- 
sure of  any  grievous  affliction,  he  feels  unexpected  joy 
and  comfort:  when  light  rises  up  in  the  midst  of  dark- 
ness; when  there  is  given  unto  him  beauty  for  ashes,  the 
oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the  garment  of  praise  for 
the  spirit  of  heaviness;  upon  all  these  and  like  occa- 
sions, he  is  sensible  of  the  presence  and  aid  of  God'3 
Holy  Spirit,  whose  grace  alone  is  sufficient  to  all  these 
purposes,  and  whose  strength  is  made  perfect  ia  his 
weakness." 

"We  not  only  believe  it,"  says  Bishop  Hickman,  *'but 
we  feel  it  too;  we  feel  the  comfortable  influences,  the 
eacred  emanations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  us;  more 
particularly  at  those  offices  of  devotion,  wherein  he  de- 
scends upon  us  also,  as  he  did  once  upon  our  blessed 
Saviour,  like  a  dove,  and  sheds  his  grace  upon  us,  in 
some  measure  with  those  excellencies  which  become  tho 
sons  of  God." 

To  these  we  may  add  the  observations  of  Mr.  Addi- 
son, author  of  the  Spectator.  *'We  who  have  this  veil 
of  flesh  standing  between  us  and  the  world  of  spirits 
must  be  content  to  know  that  the  spirit  of  God  is  pre- 
sent with  us,  by  the  effects  which  he  produceth  in  us. 
Our  outward  senses  are  too  gross  to  apprehend  him;  we 
may  however  taste  and  see  how  gracious  he  is,  by  his 
influence  upon  our  minds,  by  those  virtuous  thoughts 
which  he  awakens  in  us,  by  those  secret  comforts  and 
refreshments  which  he  couveys  into  our  souls,  and  by 
those  ravishing  joys  and  inward  satisfactions  which  are 
perpetually  spring  up  and  diffusing  themselves  among  all 
the  thoughts  of  good  men.  He  is  lodged  in  our  very 
essence,  and  is  as  a  soul  witliin  the  soul,  to  irradiate  its 
underslanding,  rectify  its  will,  purify  its  passious  and 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  95 

entiven  all  the  powers  of  man.  How  happy  therefore  is 
an  intellectual  being  who,  by  prayer  and  meditation,  by 
virtue  and  good  works,  opens  this  communication  be- 
tween God  and  his  own  soul! — Though  the  whole  crea- 
tion frowns  upon  him,  and  all  nature  looks  black  about 
him,  he  has  his  light  and  support  within  him,  that  are 
able  to  cheer  his  mind,  and  bear  him  up  in  the  midst 
of  all  those  horrors  which  encompass  him.  He  knows 
that  his  helper  is  at  hand,  and  is  always  nearer  to  him 
than  any  thing  else  can  be,  which  is  capable  of  annoy- 
ing or  terrifying  him.  In  the  midst  of  calumny  or  con- 
tempt, he  attends  to  that  being  who  whispers  better 
things  within  his  soul,  and  whom  he  looks  upon  as  hia 
defender,  his  glory,  and  the  lifter-up  of  his  head.  In 
his  deepest  solitude  and  retirement  he  knows  that  he  is 
in  company  with  the  greatest  of  Beings;  and  perceives 
within  himself  such  real  sensations  of  his  presence,  as 
are  more  delightful  than  any  thing  that  can  be  met  with 
in  the  conversation  of  his  creatures.  Even  in  the  hour 
of  death,  he  considers  the  pains  of  his  dissolution  to  be 
nothing  else  but  the  breaking  down  of  that  partition 
which  stands  betwixt  his  soul  and  the  sight  of  that 
Being,  who  is  always  present  with  him  and  is  about  to 
manifest  itself  to  him  in  fulness  of  joy. 

If  we  would  be  thus  happy,  and  thus  sensible  of  our 
Maker's  presence,  from  the  secret  effects  of  his  mercy 
and  goodness,  we  must  keep  such  a  watch  over  all  our 
thoughts,  that,  in  the  language  of  the  scriptures,  his  soul 
may  have  pleasure  in  us.  We  must  take  care  not  to 
grieve  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  endeavour  to  make  the  med- 
itations of  our  hearts  always  acceptable  in  his  sight, 
that  he  may  delight  thus  to  reside  and  dwell  in  us.  The 
light  of  nature  could  direct  Seneca  to  this  doctrine  in  a 
very  remarkable  passage  among  his  epistles.*  There  is 
a  holy  spirit  residing  in  us,  who  watches  and  observes 
both  good  and  evil  men,  and  will  treat  us  after  the  same 
manner  that  we  treat  him."     But  I  shall  conclude  this 

•Sacer  inest  in  nobis  spiritus  bonorum  malorumque  custos  et 
observator  et  quemadmodum  nos  ilium  trac  tamus,  ita  et  ille  nos- 


96  THE  EPlSCOt'AL  MANUAL. 

discourse  with  these  emphatical  words  in  divine  revela- 
tion. **If  a  man  love  me,  he  will  keep  my  words;  and 
my  Father  will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  and  make 
our  abode  with  him." 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  there  is  great  need 
of  the  caution,  that  we  try  the  spirits  whether  they  be  of 
God.  Too  many  there  are  who  deceive  themselves  by 
fancies  and  feelings,  at  the  same  time  that  they  exhibit 
very  little  of  Christianity  in  their  tempers  and  conduct. 
Those  of  a  warm  and  volatile  temperament  are  espe- 
cially in  danger  from  this  quarter.  But  it  is  plain,  that, 
unless  we  live  as  becomes  the  gospel,  we  have  no  right 
to  feel  its  consolations.  The  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth 
not  in  hearts  which  are  not  duly  kept  and  sanctified. 
Angry  passions,  unchaste  or  unbecoming  conversation, 
omissions  of  duty,  or  habits  of  sinning,  will  ever  grieve 
and  banish  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let  none  then  ever  con- 
tent themselves  with  any  emotions  that  are  not  attended 
with  the  fruits  of  the  spirit.  But  while  we  feel  our- 
selves daily  mortifying  the  flesh,  our  affections  more  and 
more  set  on  things  above,  our  heart  and  conduct  more 
and  more  conformed  to  the  image  and  precepts  of  our 
Saviour,  we  may  lawfully  look  for,  and  cherish  in  our 
hearts,  **the  full  assurance  of  faith."  "The  work  of 
righteousness  shall  be  peace;  and  the  effect  of  righteous- 
ness quietness  and  assurance  forever." 

In  what  has  been  said  on  the  subject  of  that  ''quiet- 
ness and  assurance,"  which  the  scriptures  speak  of  as 
the  effect  of  righteousness,  the  writer  would  not  be  sup- 
posed as  setting  a  value  on  fanciful  flashes  of  the  mind, 
or  morbid  fluctuations  of  feeling.  What  he  pleads  for 
is  a  sober  and  rational  joy — a  gladness  of  heart,  as 
strictly  united  with  the  soundest  reason  as  the  solar 
warmth  is  united  with  the  solar  light — a  pleasure  which 
necessarily  accompanies  the  healthful  actions  of  our 
highest  tastes  and  affections,  on  their  most  excellent 
and  natural  objects;  and  which  reflection  is  so  far  from 
damping,  that  it  will  raise  it  to  its  greatest  height.  Such 
an  enjoyment  as  this  ought  ever  to  be  aimed  at  in  all 
our  spiritual  exercises,  because,  where  the  mind  is  in 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAL.  97 

a  sound  state,  and  is  not  depressed  by  any  peculiar  cir- 
cumstance, it  is  the  feeling  which  naturally  belongs  to 
them;  it  is  that  too  which  makes  them  most  interesting. — 
To  aspire,  therefore,  at  times  to  this  feeling,  to  cherish 
it  with  tenderness,  to  guard  it  with  holy  jealousy,  is  the 
path  at  once  of  rectitude  and  pleasure,  of  genuine  duty 
no  less  than  of  genuine  happiness.  For,  whatever  may 
be  the  delusions  of  the  enthusiast,  he,  whose  vivid  relish 
for  spiritual  things  makes  him  fear  even  a  thought,  by 
which  that  relish  might  be  impaired,  whose  days  are 
bright,  nn  1  whose  nights  are  tranquil  in  proportion*  as 
his  sense  of  the  divine  presence  is  lively,  and  his  inter- 
course with  his  Redeemer  cordial  and  unobstructed  — 
he,  certainly  is,  of  all  men,  the  most  secure,  as  well  as 
most  happy — is  in  youth  best  guarded  against  seducing 
pleasures — is  in  manhood  best  guided  amidst  distracting 
occupations  of  business — is  in  age  best  supported  under 
infirmities  and  pains — is  in  death  most  comforted — in  a 
word,  has  the  truest  enjoyment  of  life,  and  the  most 
perfect  preparation  for  eternity.* 


Collect  for  Whitsunday, 

0  God,  who  as  at  this  time  didst  teach  the  hearts  of 
thy  faithful  people,  by  sending  to  them  the  light  of  thy 
Holy  Spirit;  grant  us  by  the  same  spirit  to  have  a  right 
judgment  in  all  things,  and  evermore  to  rejoice  in  his 
holy  comfort,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour,  who 
liveth  and  reigneth  with  thee,  in  the  unity  of  the  same 
spirit  one  God,  world  without  end.     Amen. 

*See  Christian  Observer,  vol,  6,  p.  83.  for  an  excellent  "paper 
on  "Fi-ames  and  Feelings." 


CHAPTER  XL 


The  Sacraments* 

Sacraments  ordained  of  Christ  be  not  only  badges  or 
tokens  of  Christian  men's  profession,  but  rather  they  be 
certain  sure  witnesses,  and  effectual  signs  of  grace,  and 
God's  good  will  towards  us,  by  the  which  he  doth  work 
invisibly  in  us,  and  doth  not  only  quicken,  but  also 
strengthen  and  confirm  our  faith  in  him. 

"There  are  two  sacraments  ordained  of  Christ  our 
Lord  in  the  gospel,  that  is  to  say,  Baptism, and  the  Sup- 
per of  the  Lord."     Article  XXV. 

*'A  sacrament  is  an  outward  visible  sign  of  an  inward 
and  spiritual  grace,  given  unto  us;  ordained  by  Christ 
himself,  as  a  means  whereby  we  receive  the  same  and  a 
pledge  to  assure  us  thereof.     Church  Catechism. 

The  word  sacrament  by  virtue  of  its  original  in  the 
Latin  tongue  signifies  any  sacred  or  holy  thing  or  action, 
and  among  the  heathens  was  particularly  applied  to  de- 
note, sometimes  an  oath,  the  most  sacred  of  obligations; 
and  especially  that  oath  of  fidelity/  which  the  soldiery 
took  to  their  General. — In  scripture  it  is  not  used  at  all. 
By  the  early  writers  of  the  western  church  it  was  used 
to  express  almost  any  thing  relating  to  our  holy  religion; 
at  least  any  thing  that  was  figurative,  and  signified 
something  further  than  at  first  sight  appeared.  But  af- 
terwards'a  more  confined  use  of  the  word  prevailed  by 
degrees;  and  in  that  stricter  sense  which  hath  long  been 
the  common  one,  and  which  our  catechism  follows,  the 
nature  of  a  sacrament  comprehends  the  following  par- 
ticulars: 

•The  Author  has  borrowed  freely  on  this  subject  from  Arch- 
bishop Seeker's  Lectures  on  the  Catechism,  but  as  he  has  some- 
times condensed,  and  sometimes  supphed  matter,  he  could  not 
adopt  the  usual  mode  of  marking  the  quotations. 


THE  i:riiCOFAL   MANUAL. 


Si 


1.  There  must  be  an  outward  and  visible  sign.;  the 
solemn  application  of  some  bodily  and  sensible  thing  or 
action  to  a  meaning  and  purpose  which  in  its  own  nature 
it  hath  not.  In  common  life  we  have  many  other  signs 
to  express  our  meaning  on  occasions  of  great  conse- 
quence, besides  words.  And  no  wonder,  if  in  religion, 
we  have  some  of  the  same  kind. 

2.  In  a  sacrament,  the  outward  and  visible  sign  must 
denote  an  inward  and  spiritual  grace  given  unto  us; 
that  is  some  favour  freely  bestowed  on  us  from  Heaven; 
by  which  our  inward  and  spiritual  condition,  the  state 
of  the  soul,  is  made  better.  Most  of  the  significative 
actions  that  we  use  in  religion  signify  only  our  duty  to 
God.  Thus  kneeling  in  prayer  is  used  to  shew  our  rev- 
erence to  him  to  whom  we  pray..  And  signing  a  child 
with  tlie  cross,  after  it  is  baptized,  declares  our  obliga- 
tion not  to  be  ashamed  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  But  a 
sacrament,  besides  expressing  on  our  part  duty  to  God, 
expresses  on  his  part  some  grace  or  favour  towards 
us. 

3.  In  order  to  entitle  any  thing  to  the  name  of  a  sa- 
crament, a  further  requisite  is,  that  it  be  *'ordained  by 
Christ  himself."  We  may  indeed  on  the  ground  of  hu- 
man authority  alone,  use  actions  that  set  forth  either 
our  sense  of  any  duty,  or  our  belief  in  God's  grace. 
For  it  is  certainly  as  lawful  to  express  a  good  meaning 
by  any  other  proper  sign  as  by  words.  But  then  such 
marks  as  these,  which  we  commonly  call  ceremonies,  as 
they  are  taken  up  at  pleasure,  may  be  laid  aside  at 
pleasure,  and  ought  to  be  laid  aside  when  they  grow  too 
numerous,  or  abuses  are  made  of  them,  which  cannot 
easily  be  reformed.  But  sacraments,  in  the  sense  to 
which  we  limit  them,  are  of  perpetual  obligation;  for 
they  stand  on  the  authority  of  Christ:  who  hath  cer- 
tainly appointed  nothing  to  be  forever  observed  in  his 
church,  but  what  he  knew  would  be  forever  useful. 
Nor  doth  every  appointment  of  Christ,  though  it  be^jf 
perpetual  obligation  authorize  the  name  of  a  sacrament, 
but  those  only  which  are, 


10^>  THE  EriSCOPAL  MANUAL. 

4thly,  Not  only  signs  of  grace,  but  "means  whereby 
tve  receive  the  same,"  None  but  our  blessed  Lord 
could  appoint  such  means,  and  which  of  his  ordinances 
should  be  such,  and  which  not,  none  but  himself  could 
determine.  From  his  word  therefore  we  are  to  learn 
it;  and  then  as  we  hope  to  attain  the  end  we  must 
use  the  means.  By  calling  the  sacraments  means  of 
grace,  it  is  not  designed  to  speak  of  them  as  means  by 
M  hich  we  merit  gra^e;  for  nothing  but  the  sufferings  and 
merits  of  Christ  tould  do  that  for  us;  but  means  by 
which,  what  he  hath  merited  is  conveyed  to  us. 

Nor  are  they  the  only  means  of  conveying  grace;  for 
reading  and  hearing  and  meditating  upon  the  word  of 
God  are  part  of  the  things  which  he  hath  appointed  for 
this  end;  and  prayer  is  another  part,  accompanied  with 
an  express  promise,  that  *'if  we  ask  we  shall  receive.'" 
'Eutthese,  not  being  such  actions  as  figure  out  and  rep- 
resent the  benefits  which  they  derive  to  us,  though  they 
are  means  of  grace,  are  not  signs  of  it;  and  therefore  do 
not  come  under  the  notion  of  a  sacrament.     But 

Fifthly:  A  sacrament  is  not  only  a  sign,  or  represent- 
ation of  some  heavenly  favour,  and  a  means  whereby  we 
receive  the  same,  but  a  pledge  to  assure  us  thereof:  not 
that  any  thing  can  give  us  greater  assurance,  in  point  of 
reason,  of  any  blessing  from  God,  than  his  bare  promises 
can  do,  but  that  such  observances,  appointed  in  token  of 
his  promises,  and  strongly  representing  the  blessings 
promised,  affect  our  imagination  with  a  strong  sense  of 
them;  and  make  a  deeper,  and  more  lasting,  and  conse- 
quently a  more  useful  impression  on  our  minds.  For 
this  cause,  in  all  nations  of  the  world,  representations 
by  actions  have  ever  been  used  as  well  as  words  upon 
solemn  occasions;  especially  upon  entering  into  and  re- 
newing treaties,  and  covenants  with  each  other.  And 
perhaps  in  condescension  to  a  practice,  which  being  so 
universal  autong  n^en,  appears  to  be  founded  in  the  na- 
ture of  man:  God  hath  graciously  added  to  his  covenant 
also  the  solemnity  of  certain  outward  instructive  per- 
foiuiances;  bv  which  he  declares  to  us,  that  as  our 
bodies  are  spiinkled  or  washed  by  water,  and  nourished 


THJ^  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL,  ^^"^ 

by  bread  broken  and  wine  poured  out  and  received,  s« 
are  our  souls  purified  from  sin  and  strengthened  in  all 
goodness  by  partaking  of  that  mercy  which  the  wound- 
ing of  the  bodv  of  Christ  and  shedding  of  his  blood 
hath  obtained  for  us.  And  thus  these  religious  actions, 
so  far  as  they  are  performed  by  God's  minister,  in  pur- 
suance of  his  appointment,  are  an  earnest  and  pledge 
on  his  part  which,  as  was  observed,  was  one  signification 
of  the  word  sacrament:  and  so  far  as  we  join  in  them, 
they  are  an  obligation  binding  like  an  oath  on  our  part, 
which  was  the  primitive  meanins;  of  the  word. 

Applying  these  characteristics  to  the  positive  institu- 
tions orclained  by  our  Lord,  our  church  esteems  two  only 
as  sacraments,  that  is  to  say,  baptism  and  the  supper  of 
our  Lord. 

These  two  correspond  to  the  two  sacraments  under 
the  law;  baptism  succeeding  to  circumcision,  and  the 
eucharist  to  the  passover.  Other  legal  ria;hts  and  cere- 
monies and  sacrifices  they  had  under  the  law  and  many 
typical  signitications  and  shadows,  but  no  more  sacra- 
ments than  the  two  mentioned. 

St.  Augustine  tells  us,  that  there  should  be  but  two 
only.*  *'z\s  Eve  was  made  out  of  Adam's  side  while 
he  was  asleep,  so  out  of  the  Lord's  side  sleeping  on  the 
cross,  the  sacraments  of  the  church  issued;  that  is  water 
and  blood;"  by  which  he  understands  the  two  sacra- 
ments. The  same  testimony  also  give  Tertullian  and 
many  of  the  ancient  Fathers,  and  thus  believe  all  the 
protestant  churches  in  Christendom,  excepting  one  de- 
nomination. . 

•Sic  ex  latere  dormiehtis  in  cnice,  &c.  Sacramenta  ecciesiz 
proriuxerunt.     St.   Augustin.  Tract.   15  in  Evang-el.  Joan- 


9* 


CHAPTER  XIK 


Baptism. 

The  duty  of  observing  this  ordinance  appears  to  be  very 
])laiii  and  ob\'ious.     Our  Saviour  has  expressly  declared 
that  we  must  be  born  of  water  as  well  as  the  Spirit,  if 
we  would  enter  into  the   kingdom  of  Heaven.*     John 
his  forerunner  baptized,t  and  his  disciples  also  baptized 
more  than  John.i     When  therefore  he  bade  them  after- 
wards teach   all  nations  baptizing  them,  what  baptism 
could  he  mean  but  that  in  which  he  had  employed  them 
before?     And  accordingly  we  find  they  did  understand 
it  as  being  the  same,  viz.  a  baptism  of  water  as  well  as 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Philip,  we  read,  baptized  the  Sa- 
maritans; not  with  the  Holy  Ghost;§  (for  the  Apostles 
went  down   some   time   afterwards    to   do   that   them- 
selves;!!) but  with  water  undoubtedly,  as  we  find  in  the 
same  chapter  he  did  the  eunuch.^     Again,  after  Corne- 
lius and  his  friends  had  received  the  Hol\  Ghost,  and  so 
were  already  baptized  in  that  sense,  Peter  asks,  can  any 
man  forbid  water,   that  these   should   not  be  baptized, 
which  have  received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we?** 

When  therefore  John  says  that  he  baptized  with  wa- 
ter, but  Christ  would  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost;  his 
meaninfjj  appears  to  be,  not  that  Christians  sliould  not  be 
baptized  v.ith  water,  but  that  they  should  have  the  Holy 
Ghost  poured  out  upon  them,  wiiich  was  not  the  case, 
at  least  in  an  equal  degree,  under  John's  baptism. 
When  St.  Peter  says,  "the  baptism  which  saveth  us,  is 

*  John  lii.  5.  f  Matthew  iii.  11.          :|:  John  Iv.  1,  2. 

§  Acts  viil.  12.  \  Acts  viii.  14.  ^  Acti  yiii.  W— 38. 

♦*  Act*  X.  47. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAHUAL.  lOS 

not  the  washing  away  the  filth  of  the  flesh;"  he  means  it 
is  not  the  mere  outvvard  act,  unaccompanied  by  a  suita- 
ble inward  disposition.  When  St.  Paul  says,  that 
Christ  sent  him,  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  gospel, 
he  means  that  preaching  was  the  principal  thing  that  he 
was  to  do  in  person;  to  baptize  he  might  appoint  others 
under  him;  as  it  seems  he  commonly  did;  as  St.  Peter 
<lid  not  baptize  Cornelius  and  his  friends  himself,  but 
commanded  them  to  be  baptized:*  and  we  read  that 
Jesus  baptized  not  but  his  disciples.t 

From  the  universal  concurrence  of  antiquity  it  ap- 
pears, that  baptism  was  used  by  the  whole  primitive 
church,  and  was  considered  as  succeeding  to  circum- 
cision under  the  Jewish  law.  It  was  deemed  an  essen- 
tial rite  in  order  to  admission  into  the  privileges  of  the 
Christian  church^  and  was  never  called  in  question  un- 
til since  the  reformation.  It  is  now  uniformly  observed 
by  every  denomination  of  Christians,  except  a  very  small 
body,  (the  Society  of  Friends)  who,  resolving  these  com- 
mands into  spiritual  requisitions,  observe  neither  bap- 
tis!n  nor  the  Lord's  supper. 

It  may  not  be  possible  to  point  out  the  necessary  con- 
nexion that  baptism  has  with  the  blessings  which  it  pro- 
fesses to  convey  and  signify;  and  hence  many  have  been 
led  to  doubt  the  expediency  of  a  ceremony  so  simple  in 
itself.  We  want  something  which  accords  with  our  er- 
roneous reason,  we  cannot  consent  to  wash  and  be  clean; 
or  if  we  must  wash,  let  it  be  in  Abana  and  Pharpai*,  or 
let  it  not  be  one  small  part,  but  the  whole  body;  not  our 
feet  only,  but  also  our  hands  and  our  head.  But  does  it 
become' us  to  dispute  or  to  obey  the  divine  commands? 
The  animals  that  were  slain  in  sacrifice  under  the  law 
had  no  inherent  virtue  in  themselves,  nor  could  any 
necessary  connexion  be  supposed  to  exist  between  the 
slaying  of  these  or  any  other  creatures,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  a  sinner.  But  what  was  wanting  in  their  general 
nature,  was  made  up  by  special  institution;  and  these 

*  Acts  X.  48.  f  John  It.  2. 

tEusebius,  Dupin,  Mo;diciiu's,  Milner's,  and  Gregory's  Eocie*.. 
Hiiit*>ne*. 


^04  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAU 

animals  being  once  devoted  and  set  apart  for  this  ser- 
vice, acquired  a  new  relation,  and  consequently  a  value, 
from  the  substance  of  which  they  were  only  types  and 
shadows.  It  is  easy  for  the  God  of  nature  to  carry  on 
his  great  purposes  without  the  intervention  of  any  means; 
but  this  has  not  been  his  usual  mode  either  in  the  affairs 
of  nature  or  grace.  Our  Lord  could  easily  have  cured 
the  eyes  of  the  blind  man  by  the  word  of  his  power,  but 
he  chose  to  honour  means,  by  making  clay  and  spittle 
the  ostensible  channel  of  his  power.  It  is  easy  for  him 
to  give  efficacy  to  the  most  simple  agents,  and  because 
he  has  instituted  baptism,  he  grants  bis  blessing  upon  it 
when  it  is  rightly  used.  "If  the  Prophet  had  bid  thee 
do  some  great  thing  wouldest  thou  not  have  clone  it? 
How  much  rather  when  he  saith  to  thee,  wash  and  be 
clean?" 


The  Mode  of  Baptism. 

Circumcision,  which  was  the  painful  initiatory  rite 
under  the  law,  was  accordant  witli  the  rigour  of  that 
dispensation,  under  whose  ceremonious  tyranny  the 
Jewish  worshippers  groaned:  whereas  the  rite  of  bap- 
tism which  has  succeeded  in  its  place  under  the  gospel, 
is  easy,  and  correspondent  to  the  lighter  yoke  which 
Christ  is  pleased  to  place  upon  his  disciples.  Water 
is  an  appropriate  emblem  of  the  grace  of  the  gospel;  for 
like  it,  it  is  the  great  purifier  of  nature,  and  like  it,  it 
flows  free  and  unconfined  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
globe. 

The  customs  of  the  Jews  were  accommodated  in  some 
measure  to  the  temperature  of  their  climate,  which  be- 
ing warm,  required  of  them  in  order  to  their  health  and 
comfort,  frequent  ablutions.  It  is  therefore  very  proba- 
ble that,  in  some  instances,  they  received  baptism,  by  a 
mode  adapted  to  their  custom,  and  went  down  into  the 
water.       But  this  fact  cannot   be  ascertained   by    tlm 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


105 


meaning  of  the  original  word  which  we  tran^ate  ftopftze, 
or  by  any  account  which  is  given  us  of  baptism  in  scrip- 
ture. If  in  some  places  it  should  be  admitted  that  the 
word  baptize  means  to  dip  under  the  water,  it  is  certain 
that  it  does  not  always  so  mean:  For  instance,  when  the 
Apostle  says  of  the  children  of  Israel,  "they  were  bap- 
tized unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea,"  it  would 
seem  that  he  could  not  mean  that  they  were  dipped  into 
the  cloud  and  into  the  sea,  for  these  are  contrary  to  the 
fact;  but  that  they  were  sprinkled  with  rain  from  the 
cloud,  and  with  the  spray  from  the  sea,  which  was  a 
wall  on  each  side  of  their  pathway. 

With  regard  to  those  passages  in  the  scripture  where 
persons  at  theii  baptism  are  said  to  go  down  into  and  to 
come  out  of  the  water,  it  is.  sufficient  to  observe,  that 
the  prepositions  EK  and  EIS,  which  are  translated  out  of 
and  i7ito,  may,  with  equal  propriety,  be  rendered  from 
or  to  the  water.  So  that  these  passages,  at  the  best  am- 
biguous, are  more  than  balanced  by  the  many  instances 
in  which  the  persons  were  baptized  suddenly,  and  in 
their  houses,  where  it  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose,  they 
had  conveniences  for  immersing  themselves  under  the 
water.  And  if  it  were  even  demonstrated,  that  immer- 
sion was  the  universal  mode  of  performing  baptism  in 
that  country,  it  would  not  render  it  obligatory  upon 
people  of  other  climates,  unless  there  were  an  express 
precept,  or  some  other  reason  in  the  nature  of  things,  by 
which  we  may  understand  that  it  is  the  quantity  of  the 
water,  the  circumstance,  and  not  the  thing,  which  con- 
stitutes the  virtue  of  it. 

As  the  children  of  Israel  were  delivered  from  the 
plague  wherewith  God  smote  the  Egyptians,  by  having 
tlie  sides  and  door  posts  of  their  houses  sprinkled  with 
the  blood  of  the  Paschal  Lamb,  which  typified  Christ 
the  true  Passoverj  thus  is  the  blood  of  Jesus  supposed 
to  be  sprinkled  upon  believers,  so  as  to  wash  them  from 
their  sins,  and  deliver  them  from  the  wrath  of  God, 
Thus  it  comes  to  pass,  that  instead  of  dipping  persons 
baptized,  or  washing  them  all  over,  as  it  might  be  proper 
to  do  in  hot  countries;  in  cold  climates  it  has  been  eui- 


1G6  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

tomary  only  to  sprinkle  them  with  water;  for  this  being 
a  symbol  or  sign  of  the  blood  of  Christ  now,  as  the 
blood  of  the  sacrifices  was  of  old;  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
having  been  pleased  to  signify  the  application  of  the 
blood  of  Christ  by  sprinkling  it,  as  well  as  by  washing 
with  it;  it  was  easy  to  infer,  that  it  might  be  represented 
by  sprinkling  as  well  as  by  any  other  way,  if  not  in 
some  sense  better,  as  this  comes  nearer  to  the  phrase  of 
^'sprinkling  the  blood  of  Christ,"  so  often  used  in  scrip- 
ture, and  which  seems  to  have  been  so  used  to  prevent 
the  mistake  of  supposing,  that  unless  persons  were  dip- 
ped and  washed  all  over  with  water,  they  are  not  rightly 
baptized;  as  if  sprinkling  the  water  did  not  represent 
the  sprinkling  of  the  blood  of  Christ  as  well  as  being 
dipped  in  it.  This  view  accords  with  the  words  of  the 
Prophet  Isaiah,  who,  speaking  of  our  Saviour,  says  "He 
shall  sprinkle  many  nations,"  that  is,  many  shall  receive 
his  baptism;  and  with  the  well  known  Prophecy  of 
Ezekiel,  "1  will  sprinkle  clean  water  upon  you,  and  ye 
shall  be  clean;  from  all  your  filthiness,  and  from  all 
your  idols  will  I  cleanse  you." 

The  method  of  sprinkling  or  pouring  has  the  advan- 
tage, that  it  may  be  administered  to  the  sick  and  dying, 
who  would  be  otherwise  deprived  of  the  ordinance;  and 
that  it  is  convenient  in  all  climates  and  in  the  most  in- 
clement seasons.  In  some  countries  water  is  so  rarely 
and  insufficiently  procured,  that  any  other  mode  of  bap- 
tism would  be  altogether  impracticable.  Now  as  this 
rite  is  of  universal  obligation  to  every  nation  and  indi- 
vidual, it  must  be  a  presumptive  consideration  in  favour 
«jf  any  mode  of  its  administration,  that  it  is  adapted  to 
every  circumstance  and  exigency  of  human  att'airs.  In 
any  case,  however,  where  the  candidate  for  baptism  pre- 
fers immersion,  the  church  authorizes  her  ministers  to 
accommodate  the  mode  to  his  wishes. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  lOf 

The  benefits  of  Baptism. 

"There  are  two  extremes,"  says  Bishop  Burnet,* 
'*that  are  to  be  avoided  in  this  matter.  The  one  is  of 
the  church  of  Rome,  that  teaches,  that  as  some  sacra- 
ments imprint  a  character  upon  the  soul,  which  thev  de- 
fine to  be  a  physical  quality,  so  do  they  all  carry  along 
with  them  such  a  divine  virtue,  that  by  the  very  re- 
ceiving them  (the  opus  operatum)  it  is  conveyed  to  the 
souls  of  those  to  whom  they  are  applied;  unless  them- 
selves put  a  bar  in  the  way  of  it  by  some  mortal  sin. 
But  the  other  extreme  which  we  likewise  avoid,  is  that 
of  sinking  the  sacraments  so  low  as  to  make  them  mere 
rites  and  ceremonies.  St.  Peter  says  'Baptism  saves 
us.'  St.  Paul  calls  it  the  laver  of  regeneration,  to  which 
he  joins  the  renewal  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  These  words 
have  a  sense  and  signification  that  rise  far  above  a  mere 
ceremony  done  to  keep  up  order,  and  to  maintain  a  set- 
tled form." 

In,  the  catechism,  baptism  is  said  to  consist  of  two 
parts,  **the  outward  and  visible  sign,  water,  and  the  in- 
ward and  spiritual  grace;"  the  latter  being  "a  death  un- 
to sin,  and  a  new  birth  unto  righteousness:  for  being  by 
nature  born  in  sin  and  the  children  of  wrath,  we  are 
thereby  made  the  children  of  grace." 

"Baptism  is  not  only  a  sign  of  profession,  and  mark 
of  difference,  whereby  Christian  men  are  discerned  from 
others  that  be  not  christened;  but  it  is  also  a  sign  of  re- 
generation, or  new  birth,  whereby,  as  by  an  instrument, 
they  that  receive  baptism  rightly  are  grafted  into  the 
church:  the  promises  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of 
our  adoption  to  be  the  sons  of  God  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
are  visibly  signed  and  sealed:  faith  is  confirmed,  and 
grace  increased  by  virtue  of  prayer  unto  God."  Article 
xxvii. 

There  are  several  particulars  necessary  in  order  to  a 
proper  understanding  of  these  expressions. 

•  Burnet  on  25th  and  2rth  Articles. 


108  THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAU 

By  disobedience  in  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  our  first 
parents  corrupted  their  nature;  and  we,  being  derived 
from  them,  received  of  necessity  an  original  taint  of  the 
same  disorder;  and  therefore  coming  into  the  world  un- 
der the  ill  effects  of  their  sins,  and  being  prone  to  sin 
ourselves,  we  are  said  to  be  **born  in  sin."  By  the  same 
disobedience,  they  forfeited  the  favour  of  God;  and  we, 
descending  from  them,  and  inheriting  from  them  by  way 
of  natural  consequence,  what  they  suffered  as  a  riiark  of 
God's  displeasure,  are  said  to  be  "the  children  of  wrath." 
Not  that  God,  with  whatever  disapprobation  he  must 
view  our  native  depravity,  is,  or  properly  speaking,  can 
be  angry  with  us  personally  for  what  is  not  our  own 
voluntary  fault.  But  He  might  undoubtedly  both  refuse 
us  that  favour  which  our  first  parents  had  forfeited,  and 
to  which  we  have  no  right;  and  leave  us  without  help,  to 
that  weakness  and  misery  which  followed  our  fallen  con- 
dition. But  what  in  strict  justice  he  might  have  done, 
in  his  infinite  goodness  he  has  not  done.  For  the  first 
covenant  being  broken  by  Adam,  He  has  entered  into  a 
new  one  with  mankind  through  Jesus  Christ;  by  which 
we  are  freed  from  the  punishment  due  to  our  first  pa- 
rent's transgression,  and  restored  to  a  state  ef  salvation. 
"As  in  Adam  we  all  died,  so  in  Christ  we  are  all  made 
alive."  And  thus  the  Christian  covenant  delivering  us, 
if  we  are  faithful,  from  eve-ry  thing  we  had  to  fear,  and 
bestowing  on  us  every  thing  we  hope  for,  brings  us  into 
a  state  unspeakably  different  from  our  former.  As  the 
minor  who  is  the  heir  of  an  estate,  may  be  fitly  called  the 
heir,  though  he  has  not  yet  received,  and  may  by  his  mis- 
conduct forfeit,  his  inheritance,  so  may  we  who  enter  in- 
to covenant  with  Christ,  be  called  the  heirs  of  salvation, 
though  we  are  liable  to  forfeit  it  by  our  transgressions; 
and  this  new  state  being  effected  by  the  grace  or  good- 
ness of  God,  we,  who  have  entered  upon  it,  are  properly 
called  the  Children  of  grace.  Now  baptism  is  the  ap- 
pointed sign  of  our  profession  in  these  matters.  It  is 
also  the  means  whereby  we  receive  the  same  and  a 
pledge  to  assure  us  thereof,  because  they  "who  rightly 
receive  it"  have  reason  to  hope  that  God  will  not  fail  to 


THE  BTISCOPAL  MANUAL.  1W? 

bless  his  own  institutions^  and  they  now  being  "grafted 
into  the  church,  the  promises  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin, 
and  of  their  adoption  to  be  the  sons  of  God  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  are  visibly  signed  and  sealed;  faith  is  confirmed, 
and  grace  increased  by  virtue  of  prayer  unto  God.* 

The  church  is  a  body  of  men  taken  out  of  the  rest  of 
the  world,  as  the  peculiar  care  of  our  Redeemer;  to 
whom  he  affords  the  special  means  of  salvation,  con- 
ducting them  by  the  methods  of  his  providence  and 
grace  in  the  v/ay  of  eternal  life.  The  church  is  therefore 
by  St.  Peter  compared  to  the  ark  in  the  days  of  Noah,  in 
which  those  who  entered  into  it  were  saved  from  the  de- 
luge. **They  were  saved,"  as  the  Apostle  expresses  it, 
**by  water,"  or  in  the  ark  which  was  carried  upon  the 
waters:  and  he  adds  "the  like  figure  where  unto  baptism, 
doth  also  save  us."  For  our  Lord  hath  appointed  that 
all  those  who  enter  into  the  ark  of  his  church  shall  be  ad- 
mitted therein  by  the  solemn  rite  or  ceremony  of  bap- 
tism, according'  to  that  express  precept  given  to  his 
Apostles,  *'Go  ye  and  make  disciples  of  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  his  conversation  with  Nicodemus  he  tells  him, 
''Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God."  And  further  explaining  himself  he  says, 
"Except  a  man  be  born  of  water,  and  of  the  Spirit,  he 
cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  corresponds 
with  the  following  passage  of  St.  Paul;  "he  saved  us  by 
the  washing  of  regeneration,  and  the  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  Here  the  words  "born"  and  "born  again," 
plainly  answer  to  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  the 
renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  whereas  our  Saviour 
makes  these  necessary  to  our  entering  into  the  kingdom 
of  God,  St.  Paul  makes  them  the  means  of  salvation. 
Thus  we  find  baptism  and  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  to  be 
frequently  joined  together,  as  in  the  passages  before 
cited,  and  in  the  following  places.  Mark  xvi.  16.  "He 
that  believeth  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved."  **Jesu8 
being  baptized,  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  him." 

,•  Article  xxrlu. 
10 


!!•  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

Luke  iii.  21,  22.  *<Repent,  and  be  baptized,  every  one 
of  you  for  the  remission  of  sins;  and  ye  shall  receive 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost."     Acts  ii.  38. 

Accordingly  we  find,  that  baptism  and  regeneration 
were  used  as  synonymous  terms  by  the  ancient  Fathers, 
In  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  the  baptized  were 
principally  adults,  converted  from  heathenism^  and  as 
they  incurred,  by  the  profession  of  Christianity,  re- 
proach, persecution,  and  sometimes  death,  there  was 
every  reason  to  believe  that  they  were  sincere  and  gen- 
uine converts.  But  under  any  circumstances,  they 
might  be  considered  as  regenerate,  if  we  make  the  dis- 
tinction recognized  by  our  church,  between  baptismal 
and  spiritual  regeneration;  and  even  where  the  inward 
and  spiritual  grace  does  not  accompany  the  outward 
sign,  charity  would  lead  the  church  to  suppose,  that  they 
who  came  for  baptism,  came  with  proper  qualifications, 
and  consequently  received  the  blessings  to  which  they 
were  entitled  by  their  entering  into  this  solemn  covenant. 

We  may  learn  thus  to  understand  those  expressions 
in  our  ofiice  of  baptism  which  have  been  objected  against 
for  want  of  considering  their  true  import.  We  are 
there  taught  to  pray  that  God  would  ''wash  and  sanctify  the 
child  with  the  Holy  Ghost;"  that  "lie  may  receive  remis- 
sion of  siif  by  spiritual  regeneration;"  that  "He  wouldgive 
his  Holy  Spirit  to  the  cliild  that  he  may  be  born  again;" 
and  finally,  after  baptism,  we  give  thanks,  ''that  it  has 
pleased  God  to  regenerate  the  infant  with  his  Holy 
Spirit."  In  the  ofiice  for  baptizing  adult  persons,  we 
pray  for  the  same  things  on  their  behalf,  and  after  being 
baptized,  do  pronounce,  that  they  "are  born  again." 

Now,  if  baptism  be  a  means  appointed  by  our  Lord 
himself,  for  our  entering  into  that  covenant  to  which 
belong  the  promises  of  remission  of  sin,  and  the  influ- 
ences ot  the  Holy  Spirit,  we  are  authorized  to  consider 
those  who  are  baptized,  as  being  regenerate.  On  his 
authority  they  are  esteemed  as  being  "born  of  water," 
and  in  the  judgment  of  charity  as  being  born  of  the 
Bpirit.  St.  Paul  frequently  addresses  a  whole  people  aa 
b«iog  the  elect  and  iaint«,  in  which  he  could  only  b« 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAL.  lH 

justified  on  the  grounds  of  that  ''charity  which  hopeth 
all  things,"  and  which  leads  us  to  believe  that  they  who 
profess,  possess  also  the  moral  qualifications  which  alone 
can  secure  to  tliem  the  inward  or  spiritual  grace. 

We  may  with  propriety  consider  the  baptized  person 
as  regenerate  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  another  view.  Sup- 
posing the  change  of  relation  produced  by  baptism  to 
be  merely  external,  and  to  atFect  the  condition^  and  not 
the  character  of  the  recipient,  still  are  we  bound  to 
thank  God  that  this  is  done  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  is 
the  author  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift,  through  whose 
agency,  all  the  means  of  grace  and  the  administration  of 
them,  derive  their  perpetuity  and  their  effect.  The 
same  effect  of  baptism  is  affirmed  in  the  formularies  of 
several  other  denominations  of  Christians.  The  liturgy 
of  the  Dutch  Church  of  the  Netherlands  directs  the 
following  thanksgiving  to  be  made  after  baptism:  ''Al- 
mighty and  merciful  Father,  we  thank  and  praise  thee 
that  thou  hast  forgiven  us  and  our  children  all  our  sins, 
through  the  blood  of  thy  beloved  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and 
received  us  through  thy  Holy  Spirit,  as  members  of  thy 
only  begotten  Son,  and  adopted  us  to  be  thy  children, 
and  confiirmed  and  sealed  the  same  unto  us  by  holy  bap- 
tism." The  hymns  authorized  to  be  used  in  public  wor- 
ship by  the  Presbyterians,  assert  the  same  blessings  also 
as  accruing  to  children  from  baptism.  The  Dutch  Pres- 
byterian catechism  says,  that  "the  Holy  Ghost  calls 
baptism  the  washing  of  regeneration,"  and  again,  that 
*'weare  spiritually  cleansed  from  our  sins,  as  really  as 
we  are  washed  with  water."  Tlie  Saybrook  platform 
which  is  authoritative  with  congregationalists,  says, — 
*'by  the  right  use  of  this  ordinance,  the  grace  promised, 
is  really  conferred  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  Dr.  Mosheim, 
in  behalf  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  says,  "these  rites 
were  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  which  are  not  to 
be  considered  as  mere  ceremonies,  nor  yet  as  symbolic 
representations  only,  but  also  as  ordinances  accompanied 
with  a  sanctifying  intluence  upon  the  iieart  and  affec- 
tions of  true  Christians."  The  Methodists  in  their 
form  of  baptism,  return  thanks  to  God  for  ^'receiving 


112  THE  CPISOOPAL  MANUAL^ 

the  infant  for  his  own  child  by  adoption."  Dr.  Clarke, 
a  Methodist  divine,  in  commenting  on  the  words  *'bjr 
the  washing  of  regeneration,"  says,  ''Undoubtedly,  the 
Apostle  here  means  baptism, — a  rite  commanded  by 
God  himself,  and  therefore,  the  thing  signified,  should 
never  be  expected  without  it. 

Calvin,  who  was  never  suspected  of  popery,  says,  "I 
consider  it  (baptism,)  to  be  a  figure,  but  at  the  same 
time,  it  has  the  substance  connected  with  it.  For  God 
in  promising  us  his  gifts,  does  not  deceive  us.  There- 
fore as  forgiveness  of  sins  and  newness  of  life  are  of- 
fered us  in  baptism,  so  it  is  certain  they  are  received  by 
us."  Again,  he  says,  ''Christ  hath  purified  us  in  the 
laver  of  his  blood,  and  hath  communicated  this  purifica- 
tion by  baptism."  "Those  v>^ho  have  imagined  that  bap- 
tism is  nothing  more  than  a  mark  or  sign  by  which  we 
profess  our  religion  before  men,  have  not  considered  that 
which  was  the  principal  thing  in  baptism 5  which  is,  that 
we  ought  to  receive  it  with  this  promise,  *he  that  believ- 
ethand  is  baptized  shall  be  saved.'  "  "We  are  baptized 
into  the  mortification  of  the  flesh,  which  commences  in 
us  at  baptism,  which  we  pursue  from  day  to  day,  and 
which  will  be  perfected  when  we  shall  pass  out  of  this 
life  unto  the  Lord."*  Our  church  goes  no  farther  than 
the  above  authorities  in  declaring  that  we  are  regenerate 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  baptism.  And  whether  this  de- 
claration be  taken  hypothetically  or  otherwise,  there  is 
no  solid  ground  of  objection  to  the  phraseology.  In 
fact  a  service  designed  tor  popular  use,  must  in  its  nature 
be  constructed  in  general  terms  and  not  undertake  to 
decide  the  case  in  which  the  benefit  is  received  and 
where  it  is  not,  but  must  proceed  upon  the  supposition 
of  Calvin,  that  *'God,  in  promising  his  gifts  does  not  de- 
ceive us." 

At  the  time  the  baptismal  service  was  framed,  there 
was  no  danger  of  its  being  misunderstood.  And  the 
authors  of  it,  have  guarded  against  any  misunderstand- 
ing of  it,  both  by  the  expression  of  their  own  private 

*  Calvin  Institut  lib.  3.  ch.  6.  *n4  4,  <?h.  15, 16. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAJJUAL. 


lis 


sentiments  as  contained  in  their  works,  and  by  the  au- 
thoritative comment  which  their  articles  and  homilies 
have  made  upon  the  baptismal  service.  As  far  as  the 
present  writer  can  ascertain  the  private  sentiments  of 
the  reformers,  he  believes  them  universally  to  have  dis- 
claimed the  idea  of  an  inseparable  connexion  of  baptis- 
mal with  spiritual  regeneration.  Bishop  Latimer,  for 
instance,  identifies  such  a  notion  with  the  errors  of  po- 
pery. In  his  tenth  sermon,  p.  195,  comm^enting  on  the 
words*  'Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  cannot  see  the  king- 
dom of  God;"  he  says,  *'the  man  must  have  regeneration: 
and  what  is  this  regeneration?  It  is  not  to  be  christened 
in  water,  as  these  fire-brands  expound  it,  and  nothing 
else.*^  The  homilies  which  are  the  work  of  the  same 
authors,  quote  with  approbation  the  doctrine  of  St.  Au- 
gustine: "If  sacraments  had  not  a  certain  similitude  of 
those  things  whereof  they  be  sacraments,  they  should 
be  no  sacraments  at  all.  And  of  this  similitude  they 
do  for  the  most  part  receive  the  names  of  the  self  same 
things  they  signify,''^  Here  then  we  have  the  reason 
why  the  term  regeneration  is  strictly  applicable  to  baptism. 
The  name  of  the  thing  signified,  is  given  by  figure  of  me- 
tonymy, to  the  sign  itself.  But  lest  we  should  mistake 
the  sign  for  the  tiling  signified,  the  article  tells  us  it  is 
hut  "a  sign  of  regeneration,  or  new  birth,"  and  that  in 
relation  to  this  and  the  other  sacrament,  "in  such  only 
as  worthily  receive  the  same,  they  have  a  wholesome  ef- 
fect or  operation:  but  that  they  who  receive  them  un- 
worthily, purchase  to  themselves  damnation."* 

The  church  understands  baptism  as  descriptive  of  a 
new  state^  rather  than  of  a  new  nature:  as  implying  a 
recovery  from  a  state  of  guilt  and  wrath  to  a  state  of 
pardon  and  acceptance,  rather  than  as  a  recovery  fl-om. 
sinful  dispositions  to  holiness  of  heart.  She  no  where 
authorizes  the  belief,  that  baptism  in  the  outward  act, 
supersedes,  constitutes,  or  necessarily  conveys,  that 
change  of  nature  which  the  scripture,  'under  a  variety 
of  representations,  makes  necessary  tO-  our   salvation!! 

•See  25th  and  2rth  Articles. 
10* 


1  14  THE     EPISCOPAL  MANUAL, 

She  tells  us  that  '*it  is  an  instrument,  by  which  they 
who  rightly  receive  it,  are  grafted  into  the  church;  the 
promises  of  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  and  of  our  adoption 
to  be  the  sons  of  God  bjthe  Holy  Ghost  are  visibly 
signed  and  sealed;  ftiith  is  confirmed,  and  grace  in- 
creased by  virtue  of  prayer  unto  God." 

"We  do  not  obtain  remission  of  sins  by  the  outward 
wasiiing  or  sprinkling  of  water;  for  it  is  Christ  alone 
that  washes  and  purges  away  the  spots  of  our  souls  by 
his  own  blood.  We  must  not,  therefore,  give  this  honour 
to  the  outward  element  on  any  account.  But  the  Holy 
Spirit,  sprinkling  our  consciences,  as  it  were  with  the 
sacred  blood  of  Christ,  washes  off  all  defilements  of  sin, 
and  makes  us  pure  in  the  sight  of  God.  We  have, 
however,  in  the  sacrament  the  seal  and  pledge  of  this 
expiation  of  our  sins.  All  do  not  indiscriminately,  and 
in  common,  obtain  this  grace.  The  fiiithful  alone  reap 
this  blessing.  The  unbelieving,  by  rejecting  the  pro- 
mises of  God  presented  in  the  baptism,  shut  themselves 
out  and  go  empty  away.  The  use  of  baptism,  then, 
consists  in  faith  and  repentance.  But  that  faith  and  re- 
pentance should  precede  baptism,  is  exacted  only  of 
those  who  are  grown  up,  whose  age  is  capable  of  both; 
but  the  promise  of  Christ  unto  the  church,  in  whose 
faith  infants  are  baptized,  is  sufficient  for  them,  for  the 
present;  when  they  grow  up,  they  are  bound  themselves 
to  acknowledge  the  reality  of  their  baptism,  and  to  feel 
its  poM'er  on  their  minds,  and  to  evidence  it  by  their 
lives  and  manners."  .  Nowell's  Catechism. 

The  well  known  discourse  of  Samuel  Bradford,  D.  D. 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  "on  baptismal  and  spiritual  regen- 
eration," affords  an  excellent  exposition  of  our  doctrine 
on  that  subject.  The  fourth  proposition  of  his  sermon 
is  intended  to  show  that  the  washing  of  regeneration 
may  be  separated  from  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Simon  Magus  is  produced  as  an  instance  in  point,  who 
was  bapti'/.ed  and  yet  had  neither  part  nor  lot  in  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  '*()ur  Saviour,"  he  adds,  "makes  the 
being  born  of  the  Spirit,  as  well  as  of  water,  necessary 
to  the  entering  into  the  kinsdora  of  Heaven.     St.  Peter 


THE    EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  115 

in  like  manner  when  he  mentions  bnptism  as  saving  us, 
adds,  to  prevent  all  mistake,  not  the  putting  away  the 
filth  of  the  flesh  (not  that  merely)  but  (he  answer  of  a 
good  conscience  towards  God,  the  having  the  heart  re- 
newed to  holiness,  and  the  li^e  conformed  to  the  com- 
mandments of  God.  What  St.  Paul  says  of  the  Jews 
maybe  applied  to  Christians  also  with  a  little  variation 
of  words.  He  is  not  a  Christian  who  is  one  outwardly, 
neither  is  that  regeneration  (namely,  such  as  will  be 
effectual  to  salvation)  which  is  outward  in  the  fleshy  but 
he  is  a  Christian,  who  is  one  inwardly,  and  regeneration 
is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  Spirit  and  not  in  the  letter. 
The  institutions  of  Christ  do  not  work  like  charms;  but 
being  appointed  to  be  used  by  reasi)nable  creatures  there 
is  a  disposition  of  mind  in  the  person  using  them,  ne- 
cessarv  to  the  rendering:  of  them  effectual. "* 

''Regeneration  and  sanctiiication,"  says  Archbishop 
Tillotson,  "are  attributable  to  the  same  causes,  the  prin- 
cipal and  instrumental,  to  the  spirit  of  God,  and  to  the 
word  of  God.  We  are  said  to  be  born  of  the  Spirit^ 
and  to  be  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  to  be  begotten 
by  the  word  of  truth,  which  is  the  word  of  God.  So 
that  scripture  speaks  of  them  as  the  same  thing.  Again: 
"After  many  strugglings  and  conflicts  with  their  lusts 
and  the  strong  bias  of  evil  habits,  this  resolution,  assisted 
by  the  grace  of  God,  does  effectually  prevail,  and  make 
a  real  change,  both  in  the  temper  of  their  minds,  and  the 
course  of  their  lives;  and  when  that  is  done,  and  not 
before,  they  are  said  to  be  regenerate.''  Once  more:  ''It 
is  said  that  one  of  the  main  differences  between  regene- 
ration, and  sanctiiication,  is  this,  that  regeneration  is 
incapable  of  degrees,  and  th.at  all  that  are  regenerate  are 
equally  so.  But  this  is  a  mere  fancy  "and  imagina- 
tion."! 

Thus  Dr.  Barrow,  who  is  universally  allowed  to  have 
been  a  writer  of  the  profoundest  learning,  and  free  from 

•See  Bishop  Bradford's  discourse  on  Titus  iii.  4.  7.  See  also 
Bishop  Bevericlg-es'  sermon,  1  Peter  1.  3. 
fTiilotson's  worics  folio,  vol.  ii,  pa^es  340,  341,  343. 


116  THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAL. 

every  imputation  of  enthusiasm,  represents  regeneration 
to  be  a  spiritual  change,  efiected  by  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  the  mind,  the  will  and  affections  of  a  sin- 
ner. Speaking  of  the  work  of  illumination  and  sanctifi- 
cation,  he  says,  "Both  these  taken  together  do  constitute 
and  accomplish  that  work  which  is  styled  the  regenera- 
tion, renovation,  vivification,  new  creation,  resurrection 
of  a  man;  the  faculties  of  our  souls  beino;  so  improved, 
that  we  become,  as  it  were,  other  men  thereby;  able  and 
apt  to  do  that,  for  which  before  we  were  altogether  in- 
disposed and  unfit."* 

Archbishop  Sharp  says,  that  regeneration  *'holds,only 
as  those  persons  that  have  always  lived  virtuously,"  &c. 
**As  for  those  that,  either  through  the  occasion  of  a  bad 
education,  or  the  abusing  of  a  good  one,  have  engaged 
themselves  in  vicious  courses,  &:c.  these  persons  are  not 
in  the  regenerate  state,  (if  we  speak  as  to  the  inward 
spiritual  part  of  it)  and  must,  if  ever  they  mean  to  be 
saved,  undergo  a  real  change  and  transformation,"  4*c. — 
Vol.  iii.  13th  sermon,  p.  294. 

"The  Sacraments  (says  Hooker)  contain  in  themselves 
no  vital  force  or  efficacy;  they  are  not  physical  but  moral 
instruments  of  salvation,  which,  unless  we  perform,  as 
the  Author  of  grace  requireth,  they  are , unprofitable. 
For  all  receive  not  the  grace  of  God,  which  receive  the 
Sacraments  of  his  grace.  Eccles.  Polity,  Book  v. 
Sect.  57. 

"Here  we  must  confess,  (says  Bishop  Burnet)  that  very 
early,  some  doctrines  arose  upon  baptism,  that  we  can- 
not be  determined  by."  One  of  these  errors  he  states, 
as  consistin;>;  in  the  belief  "that  no  man  could  be  saved 
without  baptism."  Another  that  arose  out  of  this  was 
the  "mixing  the  outward  and  inward  effects  of  baptism; 
it  being  believed,  that  every  person  that  was  born  of  wa- 
ter, was  also  born  of  the  Spirit,  &c.  But  after  all,  this 
is  not  to  be  believed  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  charm,  as 
if  the  very  act  of  baptism  carried  always  with  it  an  in- 
ward regeneration." 

♦See  Sermon  on  the  Holy  Ghost. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAL,  IIT 

Connected  with  this  error  of  making  *'the  act  of  bap- 
tism to  carry  with  it  always  an  inward  regeneration,  is 
the  doctrine  of  a  baptismal  justification  as  held  by  some 
in  the  present  day. 

*'Tt  is  a  tenet  in  the  Church  of  Rome,  (says  Bishop 
Burnet)  that  the  use  of  the  sacraments,  if  men  do  not 
put  a  bar  to  them,  and  if  they  have  only  imperfect  acts 
of  sorrow  accompanying  them,  does  so  far  complete  those 
weak  acts  as  to  justify  us.  This  we  do  utterly  deny,  as 
a  doctrine  that  tends  to  enervate  all  religion;  and  to 
make  the  sacraments  that  were  appointed  to  be  the  so- 
lemn acts  of  religion,  for  quickening  and  exciting  our 
piety,  and  for  conveying  grace  to  us,  iqjon  our  coming 
devoutly  to  them,  become  means  to  flatter  and  deaden 
us. — The  doctrine  of  sacramental  justification  is  justly 
to  be  reckoned  among  the  most  mischievous  of  all  those 
practical  errors  that  are  in  the  church  of  Rome.  Since 
the  natural  consequence  of  this  doctrine  is  to  make  men 
rest  contented  in  low  imperfect  acts,  when  they  can  be 
easily  made  up  by  a  sacrament,  we  have  just  reason  to 
detest  it,  as  one  of  the  depths  of  satan;  the  tendency  of 
it  being  to  make  those  ordinances  of  the  gospel  which 
were  given  us  as  means  to  raise  and  heighten  our  faith 
and  repentance,  become  engines  to  encourage  sloth  and 
impenitence."  (p.  172.) 

The  Bishop  of  Gloucester  in  speaking  of  "that  most 
serious  error  of  exalting  too  highly  the  just  views  of 
baptismal  regeneration,"  says,  "This  erroneous  view,  in 
my  opinion,  strikes  at  the  root  of  all  useful  preaching. 
Ministerial  addresses  founded  upon  it,  soothe  and  delude 
the  people  into  a  false  peace;  they  do  but  half  open  the 
wounds  of  the  sinner,  they  act  as  a  dull  and  clouded 
mirror  to  the  soul,  and  exhibit  to  him  a  most  imperfect 
representation  of  what  he  is,  and  what  he  should  be — of 
what  must  be  done  for  him,  and  in  him;  they  may  make 
many  a  pharisee,  and  produce  on  many  a  death-bed  a 
vain  self  righteous  case,  which  must  soon  be  changed 
into  self  condemnation  and  death  eternal.  But  they 
will  never  be  the  spiritual  weapons,  mighty  through 
God,  to  the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds,  and  bringing 


118  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

the  servant  of  safaii  *irito  captivity  to  the  obedience  of 
Jesus  Christ.'  They  will  never  be  instrumental  in  draw- 
ing forth,  from  practical  unbelievers,  the  question  of  the 
gaoler,  'What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?'  nor  in  leading 
tliem  as  humble  penitents  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  and 
binding  them  down  to  the  horns  of  the  altar,  as  devoted 
disciples  of  his  word,  and  willing  dependants  on  his 
grace. 

**What  advantage  tlion  liath  baptism?"  Much  every 
way.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  considering  the  bap- 
tismal right  as  an  assurance  and  pledjie,  on  the  part  of 
God,  that  the  person  hereby  admitted  into  personal  cov- 
enant with  him  through  the  second  Adam,  shall  not 
perish  through  the  fault  of  the  first.  It  is  reasonable 
further  to  believe,  that  some  special  gracious  effect  at- 
tends the  due  administration  of  this  interesting  ordi- 
nance; that  in  many  instances  true  spiritual  regenera- 
tion takes  place  in  baptism,  and  that  in  all,  where  it  is 
rightly  received,  some  spiritual  benefit  is  bestowed,  be- 
sides the  mere  external  condition.  Some  of  the  further 
benefits  to  be  derived  from  it  will  suggest  themselves 
when  we  come  to  consider  the  baptism  of  infants. 

**Very  necessary  is  the  admonition,"  says  Bishop 
Bradford,  "that  we  ought  to  be  careful,  neither  on  the 
one  hand  to  slight  or  neglect  the  external  institutions  of 
religion;  (he  is  speaking  of  baptism)  nor  on  the  other 
hand,  to  depend  upon  our  compliance  with  them,  unless 
we  at  the  same  time  answer  their  end  and  design." 

*'Some  of  an  enthusiastic  temper  are  ready  to  under- 
value or  neglect  all  the  external  institutions  of  religion; 
not  considering  that  these  are  the  divinely  instituted 
means  and  pledges,  to  those  who  worthily  receive  them, 
of  the  divine  favour  and  blessing. 

'•But  then  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  great  num- 
bers of  professing  Christians,  who  satisfy  themselves 
with  a  cold  compliance  with  the  external  institutions  of 
Christianity,  whilst  they  are  devoid  of  all  that  is  truly 
spiritual  and  internal.  'The^  are  baptized  in  the  name 
of  Chirst;  they  attend  public  worship:  divers  of  them 
partake  of  the  Lord's  supper;  they  go  on  in  a  constant 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUALi  It^ 

i'ound  of  performances:  but  they  are  still  unreformed; 
they  are  not  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  their  minds;  nor 
do  the  fruits  of  the  Divine  Spirit  appear  in  their  lives 
and  conversation." 

*'It  should,  therefore,  be  our  care  to  reverence  all  the 
institutions  of  our  Lord,  and  all  those  external  observ- 
ances which  are  desii^ned  as  aids  and  excitements  to 
religious  impressions;  but  at  the  same  time,  never  to 
content  ourselves  till  we  find  the  Sj)irit  of  God  and 
of  Christ  dwell  ins:  in_us,  sanctifying  our  tempers,  and 
becoming  a  settled  principle  of  piety  and  virtue  through- 
out the  course  of  our  lives."* 

But  hence  arises  another  question,  *'why  are  infants 
baptized,  when  by  reason  of  their  tender  age,  they  can- 
not perform  the  conditions?" 

The  reasons  for  not  denying  baptism  to  infants  are 
these:  Moses  and  the  prophets  avow  circumcision  to  be 
a  sign  of  repentance,  and  St.  Paul  styles  it  a  sacrament 
of  faith;  notwithstantling  which,  the  children  of  the 
Jews,  though  incapable  of  faith  and  repentance  by  rea- 
son of  their  tender  age,  were  circumcised.  By  this 
outward  sign,  God  acknowledges  himself  the  Father  of 
the  offspring  of  his  people;  but  the  favour  of  God  is 
more  abundantly  poured  out  upon  us,  and  more  fully 
declared  in  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Inasmuch  also  as  our 
infants  undoubtedly  enjoy  the  substance  of  baptism  with 
us,  it  would  be  doing  them  an  injury  to  refuse  them  the 
sigriy  which  greatly  tends  to  evidence  the  mercy  of  God 
and  confirm  his  promises.  Christians  would  thus  be  de- 
prived of  a  principal  means  of  consolation  enjo^d  by 
the  ancients,  and  our  little  ones  would  be  in  worse  cir- 
cumstances than  tiiose  of  the  Jews.  Further,  since 
Christ  our  Lord  calls  little  Children  to  him,  and  forbids 
any  one  from  hindering  them  to  come  to  him,  and  re- 
ceives them  in  his  arms,  and  testifies  that  the  kingdom 
of  Heaven  belongs  to  them;  it  would  seem  the  highest 
degree  of  injustice  to  prohibit  their  access  into  the  porch 

*  Disc,  on  baptismal  and  spiritual  regeneration. 


120  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

of  the   Christian   commonwealth,   whom   God   himself 
deigns  to  admit  into  his  heavenly  palace. 

Repentance  and  faith  are  requisite,  not  before  thej 
are  possible,  but  when  they  are  possible.  And  until  Ihey 
are  possible,  baptism  may  very  fitly  be  administered; 
because  God,  on  his  part,  can  certainly  express  by  it, 
both  his  removing,  at  present,  the  disadvantages  under 
which  they  lie  by  reason  of  the  sin  of  Adam;  and  his 
removing  hereafter,  on  proper  conditions,  the  disadvan- 
tages which  they  may  come  to  lie  under  by  their  own 
sins.  And  though  they  cannot,  on  their  parts,  expressly 
promise  to  perform  these  conditions;  yet  they  are  not 
only  bound  to  perform  them;  but  (vvhicli  is  the  point  our 
catechism  insists  on)  their  sureties  promise  for  them, 
that  they  shall  be  made  sensible,  as  soon  as  may  be,  that 
they  are  so  bound:  and  ratify  the  engagement  in  their 
own  persons.  For  it  is  by  no  means  necessary,  that  a 
covenant  should  be  executed  by  both  the  parties  to  it,  at 
the  same  time:  and  as  the  Christian  covenant  is  one  of 
the  greatest  equity  and  favour,  we  cannot  "doubt,  but 
that  God  favourably  alloweth  the  charitable  work  of 
bringing  infants  to  his  holy  baptism." 

The  promise  of  the  covenant  being  expressly  said  to 
belong  *'to  us  and  our  children,"*  without  any  limita- 
tion of  age,  it  is  proper  that  they  should  partake  of  the 
sign  as  well  as  the  promise:  especially  as  the  infants  of 
the  Jews  and  of  proselytes  to  the  Jews  were,  by  a  sol- 
emn sign,  admitted  into  their  covenant. 

In  objection  to  the  baptism  of  infants,  it  has  been 
urged  that  there  is  no  express  command  given  in  scrip- 
ture for  the  practice.  Admitting  for  a  moment,  the 
•force  of  this  objection,  we  have  a  right  to  put  upon 
those  who  deny  this  privilege  to  infants,  the  burthen  of 
proving,  that  it  was  taken  away  by  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation. Children  were  admitted  into  covenant  in 
the  Jewish  Church,  and  circumcision  was  as  much  "a 
seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith,''  as  is  baptism.  It  is 
not  incumbent  on  us,  then,  to  shew,  that  this  privilege 
was  eontioued  to  children;  it  belongs  to  those  who  deoj 
•  Acts  ii.  39. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAL. 


1£I 


it,  to  prove  that  it  was  abolished  by  that  better  covenant 
which  the  gospel  introduced.  But  where  is  the  text, 
that  would  authorize  the  belief,  that  our  Lord  intended 
to  exclude  those  from  his  visible  kingdom,  whom  he  de- 
clared to  be  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven?  Is  it  said,  that 
this  maj  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  faith  was  re- 
quired of  those  who  were  to  be  baptized,  and  conse- 
quently, that  infants,  being  incapable  of  faith,  were  not 
proper  subjects  of  baptism?  It  may  be  replied,  that  the 
same  argument  would  exclude  them  from  heaven,  for 
faith  being  necessary  to  salvation,  and  infants  being  in- 
capable of  faith,  upon  this  principle  they  cannot  be 
saved.     The  opponents  of  infant  baptism  profess  to  lay 

freat  stress  upon  the  positive  precepts  of  scripture, 
lut  upon  what  positive  precept  do  they  ground  their  ob- 
servance of  the  first,  instead  of  the  seventh  day  of  the 
week?  Upon  what  part  of  scripture  do  they  build  their 
belief  in  the  authenticity  and  genuineness  of  the  scrip- 
ture itself?  These  are  subjects  equally  important  with 
baptism,  and  yet  no  express  direction  is  given  concern- 
ing them.  Is  it  said,  that  they  are  fairly  implied  in 
scripture,  and  may  be  clearly  deduced  from  the  prac- 
tice of  the  Apostles?  We  say  the  same  of  the  baptism 
of  infants,  and  are  prepared  to  shew  that  the  evidence 
is  as  strong  in  favour  of  it.  as  of  the  Christian  Sabbath, 
and  of  the  authenticity  of  the  sacred  scriptures  them- 
selves. In  carrying  into  effect  their  great  commission, 
in  preaching  the  gospel  to  every  creature,  and  admitting 
into  the  visible  fold  of  Christ,  by  baptism,  those  to 
whom  they  were  sent,  the  Apostles,  unless  they  were 
forbidden,  would  naturally,  according  to  the  terms  of 
that  covenant,  which  had  already  existed  between  God 
and  his  church,  consider  children  as  coming  within  the 
scope  of  their  pastoral  office,  and  as  entitled  to  the 
privileges  of  the  covenant.  The  mere  change  of  the 
sign  of  initiation,  from  circumcision  to  baptism,  could 
not  have  beeii  supposed  as  affecting  the  essential  rites 
and  privileges  of  the  party.  These  rites  and  privileges 
had  never  been  taken  away  by  any  act  or  declaration  of 
11 


122  THE  KriSOOPAL  MANUAL^ 

the  Lawgiver,  and  tbefefore  continued  in  full  forcc'e 
When,  therefore,  thej  baptized  whole  families  at  once,* 
we  cannot  question  but  they  baptized,  (as  we  know 
their  successors  did)  little  children  among  the  rest. 
**0f  such,"  says  our  Lord,  '*is  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 
and  St.  Paul,  *Hhey  are  holy;"  which  they  cannot  be 
reputed,  without  entering  into  the  gospel  covenant;  and 
the  only  way  of  entering  into  it  is  by  baptism;  which 
therefore  is  constantly  represented  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment as  a  means  of  salvation. 

Accordingly  we  find,  that  the  earliest  writers  make 
mention  of  the  baptism  of  infants.  A  circumstance  oc- 
curs in  the  third  century,  which  serves  to  shew  the 
footing  which  it  had  obtained  at  that  period.  A  council 
was  held  in  Africa  by  sixty-six  bishops,  with  Cyprian  at 
their  head,  before  whom  the  following  question  was 
brought,  whether  infants  should  be  baptized  imme- 
diately, or  on  the  eigthth  day.  The  council  unanimously 
resolved  that  they  should  be  baptized  as  soon  as  possi- 
ble; on  which  Mr.  Milner  remarks,  *'If  infant  baptism 
had  been  an  innovation,  it  must  have  been  now  of  con- 
siderable standing.  The  disputes  concerning  Easter, 
and  other  very  uninteresting  points,  show  that  such  an  in- 
novation must  have  formed  a  remarkable  era  in  the  church; 
the  number  of  heresies  and  divisions  had  been  very 
great;  among  them  all,  such  a  deviation  from  Apostolical 
practice  as  this  must  have  been  remarked.  It  appears 
impossible  to  account  for  this  state  of  things,  but  on  the 
footino;  that  it  had  ever  been  allowed,  and  therefore  that 
the  custom  was  that  of  the  first  churches." 

The  benefits  which  children  derive  from  baptism,  if 
they  were  properly  improved,  would  be  very  important. 
They  become  thereby  children  of  the  covenant,  and  are 
admitted  to  the  benefits  of  the  prayers  and  ordinances 
of  the  church.  Their  sponsors  solemnly  promise,  in 
the  presence  of  God  and  his  congregation,  that  they  will 
teach  them  all  that  they  * 'ought  to  know  for  their  soul's 

•  Acts  xvi.  15.  33. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  123 

health,''  and  the  minister  is  bound,  as  the  <hephorfl  of 
the  flock,  to  feed  these  lambs,  to  watch  over  them,  and  to 
direct  their  steps  into  the  ways  of  eternal  life.  Parents 
and  teachers  formerly  instructed  the  youth  with  great 
diligence  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  as 
soon  as  their  age  permitted  them  to  reason  and  under- 
stand, that  they  might  drink  in  piety  together  with  the 
milk  of  their  nurse,  and  be  nourished  from  their  cradle 
in  the  habits  of  virtue. 

"If  parents  and  teachers  would  undertake,  and  faith- 
fully execute  this  part  of  their  charge,  great  and  won- 
derful would  be  the  consent  and  agreement  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  Vt'hich  now,  in  a  miserable  manner,  is  rent 
in  pieces.  Certainly  every  thing  would  not  lie  over- 
whelmed in  gloomy  ignorance,  or  be  so  far  distracted 
and  broken  and  dissipated,  with  discordant  and  contra- 
dictory opinions,  as  now  we  see  is  the  case;  but  for  this 
distressing  state  of  affairs,  it  becomes  all  good  men  to 
grieve."     Nowell's  Catechism. 

Would  that  this  appeal  might  have  its  due  weightupon 
the  minds  of  parents  and  sponsors!  Alas!  in  our  day 
the  sacrament  has  degenerated  into  a  mere  ceremony, 
and  the  sponsors  consider  themselves  well  acquitted, 
when  they  have  presented  a  few  donations  to  those  to 
whom  they  promised  spiritual  and  -eternal  blessings. 
But  remember,  though  custom  may  sanction  so  gross  a 
departure  from  the  spirit  and  letter  of  your  obligations, 
you  cannot  by  such  a  procedure  cancel  tbe  solemn  con- 
tract you  have  entered  into  with  God  and  his  church.  In 
his  sight  your  promise  is  not  considered  the  mere  words 
of  an  unmeaning  ceremony;  but  it  is  recorded  in  those 
books  which  will  one  day  be  opened  in  the  presence  of 
an  assembled  world.  Parents,  sponsors  and  guardians! 
if  you  have  any  affection  for  your  young  and  tender  oft- 
spring,  any  regard  for  those  whom  God  has  entrusted  to 
your  charge;  if  you  have  any  desire  that  they  should  live 
long  and  see  good  days;  if  you  wish  them  to  escape  the 
corruptions  and  snares  of  a  wicked  world,  and  the  wrath 
which  is  to  come;  if  you  wish  to  save  yourselves  from 
the  horror  that  must  gather  about  those  who  have  their 


U4 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


children  to  rise  up  in  judgment  and  pronounce  them 
cursed;  if  you  wish  the  agonies  of  death  to  be  softened 
by  the  tender  mercies  of  your  Redeemer,  by  the  reflec- 
tion that  you  have  done  your  best  to  improve  the  talent 
committed  to  your  keeping,  and  by  the  hope  that  you 
shall  meet  those  whom  your  souls  love,  in  a  better  world; 
if,  in  a  word,  you  desire  to  hear  in  the  decisive  day  that 
shall  come,  the  blessed  sentence  "well  done  good  and 
faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord," — 
labour  to  fulfil  the  awful  duties  of  your  calling,  both  in 
making  your  own  election  sure,  and  in  bringing  up  in 
the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord,  those  young  and 
inexperienced  souls  who  can  look  only  to  you  for  in- 
struction and  guidance. — Teach  them  that  they  have 
precious  and  immortal  souls,  which  must  be  saved  in 
time  or  lost  for  ever.  Eternity  depends  upon  youth, 
just  as  the  form  of  the  oak  does  upon  its  first  bent 
and  inclination.  'J'rain  them  up  in  the  way  in  which 
they  should  go,  and  when  they  are  old  they  shall  not 
depart  from  it.  Now  the  soil  is  fit  to  receive  the  good 
seed.  In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed,  and  in  the  evening 
withhold  not  tHy  hands,  and  God  will  bless  your  labour 
with  his  increase;  so  that  "he  who  soweth,  and  he  who 
reapeth,  may  rejoice  together." 

If  they  whose  office  it  is  to  watch  over  youth,  and  to 
tell  them  how  they  may  preserve  their  ways,  should  be 
so  wanting  in  regard  to  their  own  souls,  and  so  unfaith- 
ful to  the  best  interests  of  humanity  as  to  neglect  these 
weighty  matters  of  the  law;  perhaps  the  voice  of  admoni» 
tion  from  these  pages  may  reach  the  hearts  of  those  young 
candidates  for  eternity.  Ye  heirs  of  immortality,  your 
happiness  or  misery  hereafter,  will  depend  upon  your 
conduct  in  this  life,  and  upon  no  part  of  it  perhaps  more 
than  its  beginning.  Consider  the  value  of  time,  its  irre- 
vocable flight,  and  the  inconceivable  reward  or  punish- 
ment which  will  hereafter  await  the  improvement  or  ne- 
glect, of  so  valuable  a  talent.  Your  future  respectabili- 
ty or  insignificance  in  society,  the  comfort  or  misery  of 
your  parents,  the  soothing  approbation  or  bitter  re- 
proaches of  your  conscience,  and  the  nature  of  your  con- 


THE  EP[SC<»PAL  MANUAL. 


125 


dition  in  the  world  of  spirits,  will  probably  be  derived 
from  the  principles  you  form  and  the  habits  you  acquire 
at  the  commencement  of  the  journey  of  human  life.  The 
native  dignity  of  virtue,  and  the  commanding  authority 
of  true  piety,  will  ever  procure  the  veneration,  esteem 
and  affection  of  the  wise  and  the  good,*  and  extort 
homage  from  wickedness. 

If  religion  be  the  happiest  course,  you  cannot  too  soon 
enter  upon  it.  Though  you  should  live  to  old  age,  you 
ought  not  on  that  account  to  put  it  off,  because  every 
day's  delay  is  a  delay  of  your  highest  bliss,  every  day's 
delay  strengthens  the  habits  of  a  contrary  nature,  renders 
your  desire  and  power  to  return  less  powerful,  and  finally 
will  overthrow  them  altogether.  How  many  men  do  we 
see,  who  have  grown  old  in  sin,  who  have  the  wish,  but  not 
the  power,  to  withdraw  from  the  world  their  hearts,  of 
which  it  has  had  so  long  possession.  There  are  princi- 
ples in  our  nature,  which  render  the  work,  of  conversion 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  when  deferred  to  a  future 
period.  You  may  repent  to-day,  but  to-morrow  it  may 
be  out  of  your  power.  If  you  find  it  difficult  to  day  to  for- 
sake your  sins,  how  can  you  hope  to  find  it  easier  to-mor- 
row when  to  the  sins  of  yesterday  you  have  added  those  of 
to  day.  To-morrow  is  in  eternity.  To-morrow  you 
may  have  gone  down  to  the  grave  with  all  your  sins  and 
imperfections  on  your  head. 

But  were  you  sure  of  living,  and  that  God  would 
vouchsafe  the  grace  of  repentance,  and  power  to  burst 
the  adamantine  chains  that  bind  the  old  offender,  yet  to 
neglect  religion  for  one  moment  is  to  neglect  your  true 
interest,  and  to  offer  the  highest  affront  and  ingratitude 
to  the  God  who  made  and  redeemed  you,  and  who  con- 
tinues to  crown  your  life  with  mercy  and  loving  kind- 
ness. You  would  devote  the  prime  and  strength  of  your 
days  to  your  own  pleasures,  and  then  give  to  God  the 
refuse  and  dregs  of  your  life,  because  you  will  then  not 

•  Dr.  Abercrombie's  Lectures,  to  which  some  of  the  above  re- 
marks are  indebted,  contain  important  advice  to  parents  and  ca- 
techumens. 
11* 


126  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

know  how  otherwise  to  dispose  of  yourself.  You  wili 
be  willing  to  leave  the  world  when  it  is  leaving  you. — 
If  you  could  hope  that  God  would  accept  these  lame  and 
blind  and  halt  victims  at  your  hands,  you  must  confess 
that  you  have  no  claims  to  sentiments  or  feelings  of 
gratitude.  This  were  indeed  an  unkind  requital,  and  a 
dangerous  experiment.  On  the  contrary  by  remember- 
ing your  Creator  in  the  days  of  your  youth,  you  offer 
him  the  most  acceptable  service.  You  have,  in  so  doing, 
the  sure  promise,  that  they  who  seek  him  early  shall  find 
him.  Those  who  honour  him,  he  will  honour.  Begin- 
ning the  work  early,  you  shall  find  it  easy  and  delightful, 
and  in  a  dying  and  retiring  age  you  will  have  nothing  to 
do,  but  to  collect  and  enjoy  the  consolations  of  religion. 

To  this  duty  your  baptismal  covenant  binds  you  by 
strong  obligations.  For  although  you  did  not  in  your 
own  person  contract  the  vow,  yet  the  nature  of  it  is  such, 
as  makes  it  of  universal  obligation.  Your  parents  devo- 
ted you  to  the  Lord  in  baptism,  at  an  age  when  you 
could  not  choose  for  yourselves.  And  now  that  you  can 
understand  your  own  interest  and  duty,  you  are  called 
upon  to  ratify  their  contract  made  in  your  behalf.  Your 
refusing  to  do  this,  disannuls  their  act,  and  declares 
that  you  will  not  accept  of  the  Lord  as  your  master- 
"Choose  ye  this  day  then  whom  ye  will  servej  if  the  Lord 
be  God  serve  him;  but  if  Baal  serve  him."  Surely  you 
cannot  long  hesitate  which  choice  to  adopt. — You  can- 
not be  at  a  loss  to  determine  between  objects  so  different, 
and  where  your  duty  and  happiness  are  so  obviously 
marked.  Thankfully  accept  then  the  terms  which  your 
parents  have  negotiated  for  you,  and  labour  to  fulfil  on 
your  part  the  conditions  they  have  stipulated  for  you, 
that  you  may  indeed  be  the  children  of  God.* 

'•Baptism  doth  represent  unto  us  our  profession;  which 
is,  to  follow  the  example  of  our  Saviour  Christ  and  to  be 
made  like  unto  him;  that  as  he  died,  and  rose  again  for 
us,  so  should  we,  who  are  baptized,  die  from  sin,  and 

•This  is  the  object  of  confirmation  as  will  be  explained  under 
that  head. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  127 

rise  again  unto  righteousness,*  continually  mortifying  all 
our  evil  and  corrupt  affections,  and  daily  proceeding  in 
all  virtue  and  godliness  of  living."*  Be  not  satisfied 
then  with  a  mere  profession,  a  decent  demeanour  and 
regular  observance  of  external  duties,  unless  you  expe- 
rience also  the  inward  dispositions  of  a  new  nature. 
"Be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that 
ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good  and  acceptable  will  of 
God."  And  in  order  to  attain  to  this  state,  be  much  in 
prayer,  and  in  reading,  with  prayer,  the  scriptures;  avoid 
evil  company,  for  it  will  be  sure  to  extinguish  in  you 
your  good  resolutions;  ''Come  out  from  among  them  and 
be  ye  separate,  touch  not  the  unclean  thing  and  I  will 
receive  you,  and  will  be  a  father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall 
be  my  sons  and  daughters  saith  the  Lord  Almighty." 

♦Baptismal  Service, 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


The  Lord^s  Supper. 

«'The  Supper  of  the  Lord  is  not  only  a  sign  of  the 
love  that  Christians  ouj^ht  to  have  among  themselves  one 
to  another;  but  rather  it  is  a  sacrament  of  our  redemp- 
tion by  Christ's  death:  Insomuch  that  to  such  asritrhtlj, 
worthily,  and  with  faith  receive  the  same,  the  bread 
which  we  break  is  a  partaking  of  the  body  of  Christ; 
and  likewise  the  cup  of  blessing  is  a  partaking  of  the 
blood  of  Christ." 

"Transubstantiation,  (or  the  change  of  the  substance 
of  bread  and  wine)  in  the  Supper  of  our  Lord,  cannot 
be  proved  by  holy  writ;  but  it  is  repugnant  to  the  plain 
words  of  scripture,  overthroweth  the  nature  of  a  sacra- 
ment and  hath  given  occasion  to  many  superstitions." 

"The  body  of  Christ  is  given,  taken,  and  eaten  in  the 
Supper  after  an  heavenly  and  spiritual  manner.  And 
the  mean  whereby  the  body  of  Christ  is  received  and 
eaten  in  the  Supper,  is  faith."     Article  XXVIII. 

Among'  the  ordinances  prescribed  by  the  gospel,  the 
eucharist,  or  that  commonly  called  the  Lord's  Supper, 
has  ever  held  a  distinguished  place:  and  the  church  of 
Christ  in  all  ages,  has  represented  the  due  religious 
celebration  of  it  as  a  duty  incumbent  on  every  soul  that 
professed  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  sought  for  salvation 
through  his  blood  alone.  And  the  great  High  Priest  of 
our  profession  has  showed  by  more  than  ordinary  influ- 
ences of  his  blessed  Spirit  on  the  souls  of  the  faithful, 
thatthev  had  not  mistaken  his  meaning,  nor  believed  in 
vain;  while  by  eating  of  that  bread  and  drinking  ot  that 
cup,  they  endeavoured  to  shew  forth  his  death,  and  re- 
alize its  benefits. 


fHS  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  129 


The  ObligUtions  we  are  under  to  partake  of  the  Lord's 
Supper, 

There  lies  an  obligation  upon  all  Christians  to  receive 
the  holj  communion,  from  the  plain  and  positive  com- 
mand of  our  blessed  Saviour.*  It  is  the  command  of  a 
Sovereign,  and  a  Father.  It  is  the  dying  request  of  our 
best  friend,  who  in  the  night  he  was  betrayed  instituted 
it  as  a  memorial  of  perpetual  obligation.  In  so  doing 
ye  do  shew  forth  your  Lord's  death  till  he  come."t  It 
IS  a  command  easy  and  pleasant  to  obey.  It  is  one 
which  promotes  our  own  advantage;  for  thereby  we  are 
strengthened,  comforted,  and  nourished  up  to  everlasting 
life.  It  is  a  command  enforced  by  an  awful  sanction: 
"Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man  and  drink 
his  blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you."  But  ''whoso  eateth 
my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath  eternal  life;  and  1 
will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day:  For  my  flesh  is  meat 
ipdeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed." 

It  is  a  duty  too,  as  rendering  a  public  acknowledg- 
ment of  our  profession,  as  sanctioning  by  our  example 
the  Christian  faith,  an3  as  being  a  mean  of  keeping  it 
alive  in  the  world.  Under  all  these,  views  it  seems  to 
be  the  indispensable  and  solemn  duty  of  all  who  hope 
for  salvation  by  the  blood  of  Christ. 

The  Nature  and  Design  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

This  holy  ordinance  is  not  merely  a  memorial  of  the 
Redeemer  in  general,  but  is  expressly  designed  as  a  vis- 
ible representation  of  his  death,  particularly  as  it  was  a 
sacrifice  for  sin:  the  broken  bread  being  a  lively  emblem 
of  his  body  broken;  and  the  wine  poured  out,  of  the 
shedding  of  his  blood.  Our  Lord  substituted  it  in  place 
of  the  passover  which  was  of  an  expiatory  nature,  and 
which  was  designed  to  prefigure,  what  our  eucharistic 
service  commemorates,  as  having  already  taken  place, 

*  Luke  xxu.  19.  f  ^  Cor.  xi.  24,  25, 


130  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

namely  "the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  the  cross  for 
our  redemption;  who  made  there  (by  his  one  oblation  of 
himself  once  offered)  a  full,  perfect,  and  sufficient  sa- 
crifice, oblation,  and  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  on  the  very  day  of 
the  year,  and  as  some  think  on  the  very  hour  of  the  day, 
on  which  the  paschal  lamb  was  slain  by  the  Israelites  as 
a  memorial  of  their  having  been  delivered  from  the  hand 
of  the  destroying  angel,  Jesus,  our  Redeemer,  expired 
on  the  cross.* 

We  are  led  to  consider  the  death  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  an  atonement  for  sin  by  the  very  words  of  the 
institution;  **This  is  my  body,  M'hich  is  given  for  yoii;"^^ 
and  of  the  wine;  *'This  is  my  blood  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  is  shed  for  many,/o)'  the  remission  of  sins." 
The  wine  is  an  emblem  of  the  new  covenant  in  the  Re- 
deemer's blood,  by  tlie  shedding  of  v>  hich,  that  covenant 
of  grace  was  ratified  and  confirmed.  Tlie  bread  and 
wine  are  therefore  to  be  received  by  every  member  of 
the  church  to  represent  their  receiving  and  applying  the 
blessings  of  redemption,  or  in  other  word?,  receiving  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  faitli,  partaking  of  his  body 
and  blood  for  their  spiritual  sustenance.  The  Lord's 
Supper  may,  therefore,  be  considered  as  a  sign  and  seal 
of  the  covenant  of  grace  to  all  who  believe  and  repent.t 

What  is  professed  by  those  who  partake  of  the  Lordh 
Supper? 

We  hereby  publicly  avow  ourselves  to  be  the  disciples 
of  a  crucified  master,  and  that  we  will  not  be  ashamed 
to  confess  him  before  men,  but  fight,  as  good  soldiers 
under  his  banner,  to  our  life's  end.  We  promise  to  fol- 
low his  example,  to  be  crucified  to  the  world,  to  deny 

*  See  Dr.  Newcombe,  Wall,  Waterland,  Cudwprth,  and  Toin- 
ard's  Greek  Harmony,  &c.  for  the  various  opinions. 

\  If  the  above  view  be  correct,  it  would  seem  wrong  to  speak 
of  this  sacrament  as  being-  *'the  Christian  sacrifice.  Is  it  not 
rather  the  memorial  of  it  than  the  sacrifice  itself? 


THE  £HS06pAL  MAMUaL  iSl 

ourselves,  and  take  up  our  cross.  We  promise*  like 
him,  to  do  the  will  of  God,  to  go  about  doing  good,  to 
forgive  and  love  our  enemies,  to  return  good  for  evil,  to 
weep  with  those  who  weep,  as  well  as  rejoice  with  those 
who  rejoice,  to  bind  up  the  broken  hearted,  and  relieve 
the  distressed,  to  "visit  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow 
in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  ourselves  unspotted  from 
the  world."  We  own  him,  not  only  as  a  teacher  sent 
from  God,  to  be  our  instructor  and  guide;  but  we  confide 
in  him  as  our  Almighty  friend  and  Saviour;  rely  upon 
his  sacrifice;  and  commit  ourselves  to  him,  to  be  re- 
deemed, sanctified  and  saved. 

By  attending  the  Lord's  Supper,  we  publicly  profess  our 
faith  in  the  efficacy  of  the  Saviour's  death  to  put  away 
sin;  our  cordial  approbation  of  that  method  of  salvation 
which  God  hath  appointed,  and  our  thankful  acceptance 
of  the  divine  mercy  through  the  Redeemer.  We  express 
our  hearty  compliance  with  all  the  requisitions  of  the 
divine  law,  that  we  repent  of  sin,  and  believe  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ;  that  we  obey  his  gospel  and  devote 
ourselves  to  God,  through  the  Mediator,  to  be  his  for 
ever.  By  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  in  a  social 
manner,  with  the  members  of  Christ's  Church,  we  pro- 
fess our  sincere  love  to  them  as  brethren,  and  our  deter- 
mination to  perform  all  the  duties  of  this  relation;  and, 
finally,  that  if  we  are  not  faithful  to  this  covenant,  we 
shall  justly  incur  all  the  punishment  which  it  was  de- 
signed to  avert.  Such  was  the  nature  of  covenants  en- 
tered into  by  the  ancients  on  great  occasions.  They 
slew  an  animal,  and  after  dividing  it,  placed  it  on  two 
opposite  altars.  The  parties  then  walked  in  the  space 
between  the  parts  divided,  signifying  that  if  they  should 
prove  unfaithful  to  this  treaty,  thus  solemnly  contracted, 
they  would  consent  to  be  turn  asunder,  and  consumed 
like  this  animal.  Blessed  be  God,  we  live  under  a  new 
and  better  covenant,  in  which  'Hhe  blood  of  sprinkling 
speaketh  better  things."  ''If  any  man  sin  we  have  an 
advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ  the  righteous; 
and  he  is  the  propiation  for  our  sins."  But  if  we  habit- 
ually and  perseveringly  fall  away  from  the  dispositions 


132  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

and  duties  required  of  our  high  rocation,  wc  crucify  to 
ourselyes  the  Son  of  God,  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame; 
and  must  expect  a  punishment  commensurate  to  the  dig- 
nity and  value  of  those  privileges  which  we  despise* 
"He  that  despised  Moses's  law  died  without  mercy.  Of 
how  much  sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye,  shall  he  be 
thought  worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of 
God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  where- 
with he  was  sanctified,  an  unholy  thing,  and  hath  done 
despite  to  the  spirit  of  grace?" 

The  Qualifications  necessary  to  the  participation  of  this 
Ordinance, 

In  answer  to  the  question  "what  is  required  of  those 
who  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper?"  the  catechism  replies, 
*'To  examine  themselves,  whether  they  repent  them 
truly  of  their  former  sins,  steadfastly  purposing  to  lead 
a  new  life;  have  a  lively  faith  in  God's  mercy,  through 
Christ,  with  a  thankful  remembrance  of  his  death;  and 
be  in  charity  with  all  men."  They  and  they  only,  "who 
truly  and  earnestly  repent  them  of  their  sins,  and  are  in 
love  and  charity  with  their  neiglibours,  and  intend  to  lead 
a  new  life,  following  the  commandments  of  God,  and 
walking  from  henceforth  in  his  holy  ways,  may  draw 
near,  and  take  this  holy  sacrament  to  their  comfort,^^* 
"The  wicked,  and  such  as  be  void  of  a  lively  faith, 
although  they  do  carnally  and  visibly  press  with  their 
teeth,  (as  St.  Augustine  saith)  the  sacrament  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ;  yet  in  no  wise  are  they  partakers 
of  Christ;  but  rather  to  their  condemnation,  do  eat  and 
drink  the  sign  or  sacrament  of  so  great  a  thing."  Arti- 
cle XXIX. 

The  use  of  all  the  ordinances  is  to  quicken  and  ani- 
mate us  in  the  <livine  life.  Christ,  who  is  our  head  and 
life,  communicates  to  us,  through  these  as  through  chan- 
nels, his  enlivening  and  sanctitying  influence.  He  com- 
pares himself  to  the  vine,  and  us  to  the  branches.!    Now 

•Exhortation  in  the  communion  service. 
■j-John  XV.  1  to  6th  verse. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  1-i^ 

this  metaphor  denotes  the  union  which  subsists  between 
Christ  and  his  people,  and  suggests  to  us,  that  as  the  sap 
and  vegetative  power  flows  from  the  main  body  of  the 

Slant  to  its  various  branches,  so  do  the  graces  and  in- 
uences  of  the  Spirit  flow  from  Christ  to  every  branch 
which  is  truly  grafted  on  him.  "And  as  the  branch  can- 
not bear  fruit  of  itself,  except  it  abide  in  the  vine,  no 
more  can  ye,"*  says  our  Lord,  "except  ye  abide  in  me." 
Now  if  this  metaphor  afford  a  just  idea  of  the  relation 
which  subsists  between  Christ  and  his  people,  there  must 
be  a  bond  of  union,  without  which  all  our  doings  will  be 
nothing  worth.  There  must  be  a  principle  by  which  he 
abides  in  us,  and  we  in  him,  or  else  we  shall  be  "cast 
forth  as  a  branch  that  is  withered."!  This  bond,  this  prin- 
ciple of  union,  must  be  faith.  It  is  this  which  brings 
down  Christ  from  above,  and  unites  us  to  him  in  that 
mystic  "life  which  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  Repent- 
ance towards  God,  and  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
are  requisite  to  our  salvation,  and  consequently  to  our 
right  use  of  the  sacraments.  It  is  '*by  faith  the  just  do 
live."J  "Faith  is  the  mouth  of  the  soul,  by  which  it 
partakes  of  the  heavenly  meat  full  of  immortality,  dealt 
out  to  us  by  means  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Faith  then  is  necessary  to  enable  us  to  derive  any 
benefit  from  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  in  order  to  its  being 
effectual,  it  must  be  *'a  lively  faith,"  and  in  order  to  its 
being  a  lively  faith,  it  must  be  accompanied  with  re- 
pentance, a  full  purpose  of  amendment,  and  charity  to 
all  mankind.  The  soul,  like  the  branch,  may  have  with- 
in it  a  principle  of  life,  and  yet  be  so  embarassed  by  a 
load  of  extraneous  matter,  as  to  bear  no  fruit,  to  receive 
no  improvement,  and  scarcely  to  manifest  that  it  is 
alive.  Thus  many  Christians,  who  are  in  the  main  be- 
lieving and  sincere,  but  who  are  living  in  the  omission 
of  duty,  in  the  indulgence  of  wrong  dispositions,  and 
perhaps  in  the  commission  of  some  known  sin,  bring  a 
load  upon  their  consciences,  which   embarasses  the  life 

♦John  XV.  4.  fJohn  xv.  6.         ^^Romans  i.  17. 

12 


134  THE  EPISCOPAL  iCAfttTAL^ 

and  spirit  of  their  religion,  and  leaves  them  almost  deacf 
before  the  throne  of  grace.  The  Holy  Spirit  would 
seek  to  enter  into  the  avenues  of  the  heart,  but  everj 
space  is  occupied;  and  the  whole  moral  mass,  disorder- 
ed and  overwhelmed,  so  counteracts  the  economy  of 
grace,  that  instead  of  improvement  and  consolation  in 
the  sacred  exercises  of  religion,  they  only  treasure  up 
to  themselves  wrath  against  that  day,  when  the  divine 
patience,  grieved  and  exhausted,  shall  pronounce  to 
every  such  individual,  "Let  no  fruit  grow  on  thee  for 
ever.""* 

'*In  this  is  our  Father  glorified  that  we  bear  much  fruit."t 
And  in  this  way  only  shall  we  preserve  the  power,  with 
the  form  of  godliness.  Let  us  then  ever  pray  for  more 
of  that  divine  influence  which  quickens  and  animates 
our  souls;  let  us  prepare  the  way  of  the  liCrd,  and  re- 
move all  obstructions;  let  mountains  and  hills  be  brought 
low,  and  every  valley  be  exalted;  let  the  rough  places 
be  made  plain,  and  the  crooked  be  made  straight;  and 
then  there  will  be  free  access  for  him  to  come  and  abide 
in  us.  Our  sacramental  occasions  will  then  be  joyful 
occasions,  and,  excited  thereby  to  lay  aside  every  weight, 
and  the  sin  that  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  we  shall,  with 
patience,  run  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  until  we  come 
to  partake  of  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb. 

The  Benefits  of  the  Lord^s  Supper, 

The  benefits  which  the  faithful  receive  in  the  Lord's 
Supper,  are,  "the  strengthening  and  refreshing  of  our 
souls,  by  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  as  our  bodies  are 
by  the  bread  and  wine."t 

This  ordinance  is  one  of  the  instituted  means  of  ob- 
taining supplies  of  divine  grace  for  our  Christian  war- 
fare. The  intimate  relation  of  Christians  to  their  Lord 
and  Saviour,  and  their  dependence  on  him,  are  strongly 
represented  in  Scripture.  Their  vital  union  to  him,  as 
was  observed,  is  like  that  of  the  branch  to  the  root;  or 

*Matt.  xxi.  19.  -j-Jol^"  ^v*  ^'  tCatechism. 


THE    EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  135 

^f  the  members  of  the  body  to  the  head.  Oui-  Lord  re- 
presents himself  as  the  food  of  believers,  and  describes 
them  as  feeding  on  his  flesh  and  blood,  and  as  living 
thereb3\*  This  cannot  be  understood  of  merely  receiv- 
ing the  doctrines  which  the  Redeemer  taught.  Divine 
instruction  is  indeed  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  food  of 
the  mind,  and  compared  to  meat  and  drink;  and  teach- 
ers are  said  to  feed  their  disciples;  but  there  is  no 
other  instance  to  be  found,  in  which  the  teacher  him- 
self is  called  food,  and  his  disciples  are  required  to 
eat  his  flesh  and  drink  his  blood.  By  eating  his  flesh, 
and  drinking  his  blood,  our  Lord  seems  clearly  to  mean, 
believing  the  divine  efficacy  of  the  atonement;  embracing 
and  relying  on  it  by  faith;  and  receiving  the  glorious 
blessings  which  are  the  fruits  of  it,  particularly  the  free 
mercy  of  God,  the  pardon  of  sin,  and  the  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  renew,  and  purify  our  souls  into  the 
divine  ima<^e.  The  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
may,  therefore,  be  well  considered  in  the  light  of  a  feast. 
The  eating  and  drinking  of  tlie  bread  and  wine  are  em- 
blematic of  our  feeding  by  faith  on  our  Redeemer,  and 
are  helps  also  to  that  faith.  Assisted  by  the  association 
of  ideas  which  these  sacred  symbols  call  up,  our  faith 
climbs  up  to  the  heavenly  regions,  and  gets  a  glimpse  of 
things  unseen  by  mortal  eyes:  It  enters  even  within  the 
Veil  into  the  holy  of  holies,  and  beholds  the  Lamb  now 
before  the  throne.  It  sees  the  sacred  incense  poured 
upon  the  altar,  ascending  in  fragrant  clouds  before  the 
Eternal  Majesty,  and  testifying  that  God  has  accept- 
ed the  prayers  of  his  saints  through  the  sacrifice  of  his 
Son.— Returning  back  to  earth  it  gives  some 'taste  of  the 
heavenly  gift,  s"ome  feeling  of  tlie  powers  of  the  world 
to  come.  The  soul  touched  by  the  lofty  impulse,  would 
fain  mount  up  and  penetrate,  beyond  this  cloudy  atmos- 
phere, into  these  eternal  regions,  and  dwell  for  ever 
in  the  presence  of  the  Lord:  But  soon  it  feels  that  this* 
is  not  permitted  to  those  who  dwell  in  houses  made  with 
eUj.     it  must  linger  here,  and  be  content  to  take  its 

•John  vi.  35—58. 


^i^Q  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL, 

glimpse  through  its  dark  cottage;  jet,  in  these  struggles 
it  gains  strength,  and  assisted  therein  by  the  grace  of  a 
divine  power,  it  feeds  on  the  contemplation  of  eternal 
joys,  and  rejoices  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
glory. 

In  this  divine  ordinance  we  enjoy,  in  a  peculiar  man- 
ner, the  presence  of  our  Redeemer,  and  have  fellowship 
with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  Here 
He  manifests  himself  as  he  does  not  to  the  world;  here 
we  pour  out  our  wants  and  desires,  and  in  return  feel 
the  rich  tide  of  affection  flowing  into  the  soul,  filling  it 
with  unutterable  consolations. 

This  public  acknowledgment  serves  also  to  strengthen 
our  obligations  to  a  life  of  universal  holiness  and  integrity. 
It  furnishes  the  most  powerful  motives  to  act  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  our  character  and  profession.  Shall  1,  who 
have  solemnly  professed  to  be  dead  to  sin,  live  any  long- 
er therein?  Shall  I  indulge  in  any  degree,  any  species 
of  iniquity,  when  I  discern  so  clearly  its  malignity  in 
the  sufferings  and  death  of  my  Lord?  Shall  I  disgrace 
his  sacred  cause,  and  crucify  him  afresh? 

Sometimes  professors  of  religion  are  kept  up  in  the 
hour  of  temptation,  when  their  zeal  has  languished,  and 
their  affections  have  grown  cold,  merely  by  the  con- 
sideration of  their  own  disgrace  which  would  be  the 
consequence  of  an  act  derogatory  to  their  profession. 
In  this  view,  therefore,  we  derive  a  benefit  from  the 
public  participation  of  an  ordinance  which  pledges  us 
to  live  righteously  and  soberly  in  the  world:  we  enlist 
our  wrong  passions  on  the  side  of  religion,  and  make 
even  inferior  motives,  subservient  to  its  ends.  And  in 
a  world  like  this,  surrounded  as  we  are  by  so  many  evils, 
we  require  all  the  helps  we  can  obtain.  But  this  is  not 
the  chief  benefit  of  the  sacraments,  for  they  are,  as  has 
been  shewn,  "means  of  grace,  and  pledges  to  assure  us 
.thereof." 

Such  being  the  obligation,  the  nature,  the  design,  and 
the  benefits  of  this  holy  ordinance,  what  reason  can  be 
given  for  the  general  neglect  it  meets  with  among  men? 
There  ^re  some  who  are  believers  in  Christianity,  and 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL,  137 

yet  cannot  perceive  the  obligation  of  the  command; 
there  are  others  who  esteem  it  their  duty,  and  yet  who 
do  not  come,  because  they  are  afraid  of  partaking  of  it 
unworthily;  and  there  are  not  a  few,  who  openly  con- 
temn and  reject  it  upon  principles  of  hostility. 

With  regard  to  those  who  cannot  perceive  the  obliga- 
tion of  the  duty,  we  leave  them  to  the  equitable  judgment 
of  God.  In  our  view  of  the  subject,  we  cannot  but 
think,  that  they  err  in  a  very  essential  matter;  but  it 
belongs  to  Christian  charity  not  to  judge  them  too 
harshly.  Yet  we  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  the 
wish,  dictated  by  a  regard  to  their  welfare,  that  they 
would  consider  the  subject  with  impartiality  and  atten- 
tion, and  ask  their  hearts  and  their  understandings,  how 
they  can  reject  an  express  and  positive  command,  and 
one  universally  observed  by  the  whole  Christian  church 
from  its  first  foundation  to  the  period  of  the  reforma- 
tion, and  down  to  the  present  time  by  all  except  one 
small  branch  of  Christians? 

Among  those  who  esteem  it  the  duty  of  Christians  to 
partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  yet  are  prevented  by 
the  fear  of  partaking  unworthily,  are  two  descriptions 
of  people,  both  urging  the  same  excuse,  though  not  with 
equal  truth.  The  one  part  consists  of  those  who  have 
no  desire  to  forsake  their  sins,  and  justly  enough  con- 
clude that  they  are  not  fit  to  go  to  the  Lord's  table.  So 
that  when  their  thoughts  are  directed  to  this  subject  by 
the  recurrence  of  a  sacramental  occasion,  they  excuse 
themselves,  as  they  think  very  humbly,  but  in  truth  very 
wickedly,  by  saying  they  are  not  worthy.  Thus  they 
make  one  crime  an  apology  for  another,  and  even  take 
merit  to  themselves  for  the  apology. 

'•But  be  not  deceived;  God  is  not  mocked."  Your 
staving  away  from  the  sacrament  does  not  render  your 
professed  unworthinei?s  more  worthy,  nor  does  it  release 
you  from  those  inalienable  claims  which  God  your  Sa- 
viour has  upon  your  service.  The  obligations  of  your 
duty  do  not  result  from  the  sacrament,  but  from  those 
eternal  laws  of  justice  and  truth  which  bind  everv  mem- 
12* 


"ioH  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL, 

ber  of  the  human  familj  to  love  and  serve  that  graciotrs 
Being  who  gives  us  life' and  all  things.     You  are  not  to 
come  to  the  sacrament  unworthily,  nor  are  you  to  stay 
away  unworthily^  that  is,  you  are  not  to  be  unworthy  at 
all. — When  you  reply  to  our  invitation   to   the  gospel 
feast,  that  you  cannot  come  because  you  are  unworthy, 
what  is  this  but  saying,  *'I  am  corrupt  and  depraved, 
and,  preferring  this  state   to  that  in  which  the  gospel 
covenant  would  place  me,  I  intend  to  continue  in  itj  so 
therefore  I  pray  you  have  me  excused?" — You  may  dis- 
guise to  yourself  the  truth  in  this  business,  and  persuade 
yourself,  that  because  you  compliment  the  institutions  of 
religion  with  respectful   professions,  you   are  not   very 
criminal;  but  be  assured   you  never  can  be  safe,  while 
you  are  living  in  a  course  of  action,  which  will  not  per- 
mit you,  even  according  to  your  own  notions,  to  partake 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.     If  you  are  not  v/orthy  to  do  this, 
are  you  fit  for  Heaven?    If  you  lamented  this  state,  and 
endeavoured  to  alter  it,  the  case  would  be  different;  but 
as  you  continue  the  same,  it  is  evident  you  do  not  lament, 
and  endavour   to  reform,   your  evil  habits.     And  what- 
ever pretexts  a  corrupt  policy  may  invent  to  itself,  it  is 
certain  that  these  habits,  formed   and  persisted   in  with 
deliberate  consent,   place   you  on   the  list  of  those  who 
contemn  and  reject  the  sacraments  of  Christ  from  prin- 
ciples of  hostility. 

But  there  are  some  who  sincerely  desire  to  keep  the 
divine  commands,  who  fear  God  and  tremble  at  his 
word,  and  dare  not  approach  his  holy  table,  lest  they 
should  eat  and  drink  their  own  damnation.  It  seldom 
happens,  that  there  is  reason  to  tear  (or  those  who  fear 
for  themselves.  There  cannot  be  a  better  proof  of 
one's  worthiness,  than  that  he  feels  himself  to  be  un- 
worthy. If  by  worthiness  we  mean  a  meritorious  fitness 
by  which  we  are  (qualified  to  be  entertained  at  the  Lord's 
table,  not  only  no  man  on  earth,  but  no  angel  in  heaven, 
in  that  sense,  is  worthy.  But  we  are  made  righteous  by 
tlie  merits  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  we  look  to  him 
for  that  worthiness  which  we  have  not  in  ourselves. 
Ail  the  fitness  he  requires,  is,  that  we  feel  our  need  of 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAXUAL.  159 

himi  that  we  have  a  trae  repentance,  whereby  we  for- 
sake sin;  that  we  sincerely  abhor  it,  that  we  are  in  love 
and  charity  with  our  neighbour,  and  steadfastly  purpose  to 
lead  a  new  life.  If  you  have  these  dispositions,  **draw 
near  with  faith,  and  take  this  holy  sacrament  to  your 
comfort."  Our  faith  never  rises  higher,  than  when  its 
foundations  are  laid  lowest  in  the  sense  of  our  own  un- 
worthiness.  From  this  depth  of  an  humble  and  contrite 
heart,  you  may  look  up  to  the  cross,  and  behold  your  Sa- 
viour bruised  for  your  iniquities,  and  making  reconcili- 
ation for  your  transgressions.  Touched  by  his  cross  we 
live,  and  rise  up  to  his  image  and  favour.  In  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper,  we  have  these  blessings 
sealed  and  confirmed,  and  Jesus,  who  presides  at  the 
feast,  will  say  to  you  who  are  poor  in  spirit,  and  humble 
in  heart,  "friend  come  up  higher." 

It  is  by  keeping  this  command,  that  we  are  assisted  in 
keeping  all  the  commands.  Fear  not  then  to  come,  if 
you  come  with  penitent  hearts.  Come,  weary  and  heavy 
laden  as  ye  are,  and  \a.y  down  your  load  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross.  Come  ye  leprous  souls,  and  wash,  and  be 
clean.  * 'Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be 
made  white  as  snow;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson, 
they  shall  be  as  wool."  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  that 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  From  the  thunders 
rolling  against  you  from  Sinai,  seek  an  asylum  on  Cal- 
vary, at  the  foot  of  your  expiring  Saviour;  and  in  due. 
time  you  will  find  that  '*He  is  faithful  and  just  to  for- 
give you  your  sins,  and  to  cleanse  you  from  all  unright- 
eousness." 

How  shall  we  address  those  who  make  light  of  these 
holy  mysteries;  nay,  who  reject,  with  hostile  senti- 
ments, the  use  of  this  sacred  institution?  "If  God 
spared  not  iiis  own  Son,  what  will  be  our  condemnation 
if  we  continue  impenitent?  If  we  remain  without  an 
interest  in  the  Saviour,  wliat  asylum,  what  city  of  re- 
fuge can  we  find  to  shelter  us  against  that  justice  which 
is  so  inflexible  that  it  regarded  not*  the  dignity  of  the 
Redeemer.  These  are  dreadful  thoughts;  stifle  them  not 
by  the  cares  and  delights  of  the  world.     You  may  lead 


140  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

yourself  to  forget  them  now;  but  they  will  return  with 
awful  fear  upon  the  bed  of  death.  At  the  last  hour, 
when  every  thing  will  abandon  you,  when  ev£ry  human 
succour  shall  become  useless,  when  those  delusive  bles- 
sings which  you  enjoyed  on  earth  shall  be  torn  from 
you,  then  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  which  might  have 
been  vour  resource,  your  refuge  and  strength,  shall  fill 
you  with  the  most  lively  fears  and  dismay.  You  will 
shudder  when  you  consider  this  Saviour  sacrificed  by 
the  same  justice  which  will  then  cite  you  to  its  tribunal; 
notwithstanding  the  efiicacy  of  a  divine  blood,  it  will 
give  no  hope  to  you;  and  when  your  soul,  torn  at  last 
from  your  body,  shall  fall  defenceless  and  polluted  be- 
fore the  throne  of  God,  what,  ah!  what  will  be  your 
destiny?  what  will  be  the  inflictions  of  that  justice, 
which  here  manifested  its  power  and  severity  by  wound- 
ing the  Saviour?  of  that  justice  which  will  consider  the 
agonies  of  Christ  as  aggravating  your  guilt,  and  impres- 
sing more  deeply  on  your  soul  the  seal  of  eternal  re- 
probation."' 

Communicants!  ever  bear  in  mind  the  solemn  obliga- 
tions you  are  under  to  walk  worthy  of  the  high  vocation 
wherewith  you  are  called.  You  have  entered  into  a  sol- 
emn oath,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  all  his  holy  angels: 
and  man  marks  with  jealous  and  scrutinizing  eye  your 
future  conduct.  By  your  becoming  deportment,  you 
may  be  instrumental  in  the  salvation  of  others.  "Ye 
are" the  epistle  of  God,  read  and  known  of  all  men:" 
and  many  who  do  not  take  the  trouble  to  read  the  Bible, 
cannot  shut  their  eyes  to  the  light  of  a  holy  life;  but 
have  been  won  over  to  the  faith  and  practice  of  a  religion 
so  illustriously  displayed.  On  the  other  hand,  nothing 
tends  SQ  much  to  harden  men  in  crime,  and  to  confirm 
their  infidelity,  as  the  irregular  lives  of  professors. 
And  thus  we  may  become  stumbling  blocks  in  their  \yay, 
and  accessary  to  their  damnation.  When  we  consider 
then  that  so  much  depends  upon  our  walking  aright;  that 
thereby  we  may  be  instrumental  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  church,  and  to  the  welfare  of  society,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  we  may  defeat  these  great  objects  and 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  141 

our  own  salvation;  surely  the  consideration  should  awa- 
ken all  our  energies,  and  arouse  all  our  hopes,  and  fears, 
and  exertions,  to  let  our  light  so  shine  before  men,  that 
they,  seeing  our  good  works,  may  glorify  our  Father 
who  is  in  Heaven. 


MEDITATIONS  AND  PRAYERS, 

Suitable  for  the  occasion  of  the  Lord's  Supper^  to  be  used 
at  any  time  before  the  elements  are  consecrated. 

O  my  soul,  come  now  and  go  down  to  the  garden  of 
Gethsemane,  where  thy  Saviour  is  about  to  commence 
the  course  of  his  sacred  sorrows.  Look  up  to  the  moun- 
tain of  Calvary,  and  behold  him  extended  there  upon 
the  cross.  The  nail  strikes  deep  through  his  hands  and 
feet.  The  spear  pierces  his  blessed  side,  and  blood  and 
water  flow  out.  "It  is  finished."  Thy  Saviour  bows 
his  head  and  dies.  And  was  it  for  thee,  O  my  soul,  that 
Jesus  suffered  and  died?  O  my  God,  may  the  thoughts 
of  it  awaken  in  me  a  deep  and  genuine  repentance. 
May  I  abhor  those  sins  that  caused  his  sorrows.  For- 
give me,  O  Lord,  my  manifold  transgressions.  They 
are  more  in  number  than  the  hairs  of  my  head.  I  have 
destroyed  myself,  but  blessed  be  thy  name,  thou  hast 
laid  my  help  on  one  who  is  mighty.  Thy  hand,  O  God, 
formed  us  when  thou  didst  create  the  world.  Thy  hand 
again  wrought  redemption  for  us.  In  our  formation  thou 
didst  employ  the  light  of  thy  wisdom,  and  the  power  of 
thy  hands.  In  our  redemption,  O  Jesus,  thou  hast 
healed  us  by  thy  wounds,  and  by  thy  death.  Remember, 
O  Lord,  what  thou  hast  done  for  me,  and  apply  that 
remedy  which  thou  hast  written  and  signed  with  thy 
own  blood.  Renew  and  sanctify  me  by  the  power  of 
thy  grace 5  prepare  me  to  come  with  advantage  to  thy 
holy  altar;  accept  of  the  unworthy  offering  I  am  about 
to  make,  and  let  no  improper  thought,  or  unholy  desire, 
intrude  upon  those  sacred  hours  in  which  I  come  into 
thy  presence. 


142  THE     EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

I  know,  0  Lord,  that  I  have  of  myself  no  capacity, 
no  strength  for  thy  favour  and  service:  that  I  am  utterly 
unworthy  to  walk  under  the  light  of  thj  countenance; 
and  that  it  is  only  Thou  who  canst  influence  me  even  to 
desire,  much  more  to  obtain  thy  blessings.  Send  then, 
O  God,  thy  light  and  thy  truth  to  conduct  me  to  thy 
tabernacle.  Display  in  me,  0  Heavenly  Father,  the  effi- 
cacy of  thy  grace,  the  strength  of  that  power  which 
thou  didst  shew  forth  in  Jesus  Christ  when  thou  didst 
raise  him  from  the  dead.  Enlighten  and  restore  me, 
who  am  sunk  in  darkness,  and  in  the  region  of  the 
shadow  of  death.  Conduct  me,  O  Father,  in  the  road 
of  salvation,  that  I  may  arrive  with  joy,  at  the  habita- 
tions of  thy  holiness,  there  to  contemplate  the  wonders 
of  thy  mercy  and  the  glories  of  thy  eternal  presence. 
Grant  my  unworthy  petitions  through  the  merits  of  my 
Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ.    Amen. 

To  he  used  just  before  going  to  the  Mar, 

What  am  I,  O  my  God,  that  I  dare  to  present  myself 
before  thy  sovereign  majesty?  O  my  soul,  open  thine 
eyes  upon  thy  unworthiness,  and  call  up  all  thy  powers, 
to  contemplate  that  infinite  love  which  the  mystery  of 
thy  redemption  unfolds.  Jesus  thy  Saviour  is  now  cru- 
cified before  thee.  The  bread  broken  and  wine  poured 
out,  remind  thee  of  that  body  broken  and  that  blood 
shed  for  thy  sins.  My  Lord  and  my  God,  who  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  I  supplicate  thee  to  save 
my  sinful  soul.  Enable  me  to  offer  thee  the  sacrifice  of 
a  contrite  heart,  of  a  spirit  humbled  by  repentance,  and 
penetrated  with  grief  for  my  offences.  Grant  me  some 
testimony  of  thy  presence  and  love,  which  may  con- 
vince me  that  my  soul  is  dear  unto  thee.  Draw  toward 
thee  all  the  affections  of  my  heart,  that  with  thy  aid 
the  chain  of  my  sins  may  be  broken,  and  that  my  soul 
may  be  replenished  with  that  celestial  joy,  which  thou 
dost  communicate  to  those  who  love  thee.  Thou  who 
art  the  Redeemer  of  souls,  and  hast  pronounced  those 
to  be  happy  who  weep — Thou  benevolent  Saviour,  who 


THE  ItPiSCOJ^AL  IfAHUAL.  145 

didst  weep  over  Lazarus  dead.  Thou  who  didst  shed 
abundance  of  tears  over  unhappy  Jerusalem,  let  thy 
Holy  Spirit  soften  the  hard  hearts  of  sinners,  who  are 
on  the  point  of  perishing  by  thy  just  judgments.  Let 
mine  be  melted  before  thee,  when  I  consider,  that  though 
thou  wouldst  purify  it  by  the  virtue  of  thy  grace,  I  am 
daily  soiling  it  anew. 

O  Lord,  efface  these  criminal  spots.  Renew  a  right 
spirit  within  me.  0  purify  my  heart.  If  thou  wilt 
cleanse  it  by  thy  grace,  it  shall  be  whiter  than  snow. 
Then  instead  of  those  fears,  worse  than  a  thousand 
deaths,  of  which  sin  makes  it  the  miserable  prey,  it  will 
experience  a  joy  which  shall  extend  beyond  the  limits 
of  time. 

O  God,  the  Father,  assist  me  in  my  supplications  by 
the  influence  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  and  graciously  answer 
them  for  the  sake  of  thy  blessed  Redeemer,  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen. 

To  be  used  at  the  time  of  receiving  the  Communion, 

O  Lord,  who  by  one  word  didst  calm  the  winds  and 
waves,  establish  tranquillity  in  my""agitated  heart.  Let 
me  rest  on  thee,  and  my  troubles  will  subside.  Let  me 
retire  under  the  shadow  of  thy  wings,  that  I  may  be  de- 
fended from  those  vain  thoughts  which  pursue  me. 

From  the  exterior  symbols  of  the  Holy  Supper,  my 
soul  indeed  draws  the  sweetest  consolations;  but  this 
cannot  satisfy  its  desires.  It  aspires  after  something 
more  perfect.  It  desires  to  see  thee,  not  as  in  a  glass 
darkly,  but  face  to  face.  But  submissive  to  thy  will, 
O  Lord,  yet  full  of  hope  and  love,  I  wait  the  happy  day 
when  I  shall  behold  the  pure  light  of  thy  dwelling,  and 
enjoy  the  complete,  the  ineffable  blessings  of  Heaven. 
When  feeling  the  weight  of  the  chains  which  bind  me 
down  to  earth,  I  sink  in  sorrow,  and  call  on  thee,  O 
Lord,  who  art  my  only  refuge,  to  shake  them  off,  and  to 
raise  me  on  the  wings  of  contemplation,  above  this  dark 
and  dangerous  scene,  Thou  wilt  hear  me. 

Thou  wilt  regard  the  aspirings  of  my  soul.  Thou 
who  art  the  fountain  of  salvation  wilt  satisfy   its  thirst 


144  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

for  the  pure  water  of  life.  1  find  this  happy  work  be- 
gun, whenever  I  seek  that  union  with  thee  which  thou 
ofFerest  in  the  holy  eucharist.  Let  not  the  shadows  of 
earth  separate  me  for  thee,  who  art  the  sun  of  right- 
eousness. 

Let  no  intervening  clouds  obscure  or  hide  from  my 
spiritual  view  the  pure  heaven  in  which  thou  residest. 
Assist  me,  divine  Saviour,  to  raise  my  soul  from  these 
worldly  things  to  thee:  and  let  it  be  only  on  thee,  who 
art  the  Creator  of  all  things,  that  it  rests  the  eyes  of  its 
faith;  let  it  be  on  thee  that  the  ultimate  confidence  of 
its  affections  is  placed,  since  thou  art  its  Sovereign  God, 
and  the  only  source  of  endless  joy.  Let  me  have  a  full 
sense  of  this  truth  every  time  I  approach  the  holy  table. 
Let  me  there  taste  the  delights  of  thy  love. 

0  my  God,  although  I  cannot  yet  mount  to  the  source 
of  living  waters,  to  satisfy  the  thirst  of  my  soul,  I  will  at 
least  refresh  it  at  the  precious  channels  of  thy  mercy, 
which  thou  hast  given  us  in  the  ordinances  of  thy  church. 
Although  I  cannot  while  here,  be  altogether  heavenly,  I 
will  endeavour,  at  least,  to  obtain,  through  thy  grace, 
some  vigour;  and,  by  renewed  efforts  at  thy  holy  Sup- 
per, prepare  my  heart  for  the  joys  of  Heaven.  With 
these  foretastes  of  eternal  blessedness  will  I  console 
myself  in  this  world,  till  I  am  admitted  to  the  assem- 
bly of  the  just  made  perfect,  and  till  I  possess  those 
full  enjoyments  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  eternal 
presence  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit.* 

To  he  used  after  receiving  the  Communion. 

What  shall  I  render  to  the  Lord  for  all  his  benefits? 
The  earth  after  having  received  the  rain,  sends  back 
sweet  exhalations  to  heaven.  The  plants,  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  dew,  which  fertilizes  the  earth,  bear 
fruit  in  abundance.  May  I  learn  from  these  inanimate 
productions,  what  is  ray  duty  to  that  gracious   Being, 

♦These  prayers  and  meditations  are  principally  from  Nienvorts 
devotions. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


145 


Who  has   distinguished   and  replenished   me   with   Ins 
bounties. 

0  immense  riches  of  thy  love!  thus  unworthy  as  I  am, 
thou  callest  me  to  thy  table  to  commune  with  thee.  I 
was  naked,  and  thou  hast  clothed  me  with  the  garments 
of  salvation.  Thou  hast  justified,  thou  hast  cleansed 
me  by  my  Redeemer's  blood.  Thou  hast  sanctified  mc 
by  thv  Holy  Spirit.  O  ineffable  grace!  O  celestial 
clemency.  What  shall  I  render  to  thee,  my  God,  nay 
gracious  God?  what  offering  dost  thou  require?  It  is 
only  my  heart.  Receiye  it  then,  O  Father  of  Mercies, 
and  make  it  an  acceptable  off*eri,ng  to  thee,  by  filliiig  it 
with  love  towards  thee,  and  towards  my  neighbour;  and 
with  abhorrence  of  sin,  which  cost  so  precious  a  sacri- 
fice as  the  death  of  thy  Son.  I  pray  thee,  0  my  God, 
with  all  the  fervour  of  which  I  am  capable,  to  receive 
the  offering  I  make  to  thee  of  myself.  It  is  thy  grace 
alone  which  can  render  it  acceptable. 

By  complying  with  thine  ordinance  may  my  heart  be 
improved.  May  it  sympathize  with  its  divine  Saviour  in 
all  the  griefs  and  pains  he  suffered,  when  he. gave  up 
himself  to  death  for  me.  May  it  be  filled  with  com- 
punction and  penitence,  and  hold  in  abhorrence  those 
sins  which  my  Redeemer  e5jpiated  by  shedding  his  pre- 
cious blood.  May  thy  grace,  which  thou  dost  bestow  in 
the  holy  communion,  animate  and  fortify  me  in  combat- 
ing my  sinful  passions. 

O  my  Saviour!  let  thy  name  inspire  me  with  vigour, 
and  the  remembrance  of  thy  death  with  consolation. 
Let  thy  law,  which  thou  hast  given  me,  be  a  greater 
treasure  to  me  than  silver  or  gold.  Direct  my  pursuits; 
console  me  in  my  sorrows;  support  me  in  my  weakness^ 
and  so  occupy  my  heart,  that  there  may  be  no  room  for 
dangerous  objects  to  enter.  Let  me  become  as  a  sacred 
temple,  fit  for  thy  service.  If  sometimes  the  torrent  of 
my  depraved  inclinations  carries  me  away,  check  and 
retain  me,  O  thou  Spirit  of  strength  and  virtue,  and  hin- 
der me  from  returning  to  my  sins.  Enlighten  my  mind, 
and  sanctify  my  heart,  O  Divine  Spirit,  that  employing 
13 


146  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL, 

as  I  ought,  the  gifts  thou  dost  bestow,  I  may  be  pre- 
pared to  be  called  up  higher,  even  to  the  marriage  Sup- 
per of  the  Lamb. 

Hear  my  prayers,  0  Heavenly  Father,  through  the 
mediation  of  my  Redeemer  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  with 
Thee  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  praise  and  glory  in  Heaven 
and  on  Earth  for  ever  and  ever.     Amen. 

Communicants;  you  are  now  about  to  return  into  the 
world,  amidst  the  snares  of  the  wicked  one;  he  will  still 
aim  many  a  blow  at  your  integrity  and  peace.  You  have 
need  to  take  upon  you  the  whole  armour  of  God.  Be 
sober,  be  vigilant,  for  the  end  of  all  things  is  at  hand. 
Being  found  faithful  unto  the  grace  given,  you  shall  be 
supported  by  the  Almighty  arm,  and  come  forth  conquer- 
ors through  him  who  hath  loved  us. 

Communicants^  you  are  going  to  return  into  the  world. 
Is  it  not  high  time  to  think  of  your  departure  out  of  it? 
You  are  conversant  with  the  living;  you  must  think  of 
speedily  mingling  with  the  dead.  You  must  be  looking 
forward  to  those  mortal  agonies  which  are  preparing;  to 
that  bed  of  languishing  which  is  already  spread;  to  that 
funeral  procession  which  is  marshalling  for  us.  But, 
supported  by  the  peace  of  God,  we  shall  contemplate 
these  scenes  without  fear,  and  enter  upon  them  without 
dread.  Through  that  gloomy  night  which  is  fast  ap- 
proaching, and  which  is  already  covering  our  eyes  with 
its  awful  shade,  we  shall  behold  the  rays  of  the  sun  of 
righteousness,  and  their  divine  light  shall  dissipate  to  us 
all  the  horrors  of  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death. 
•  'Thanks  be  to  God  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."    Amen. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Confirmation, 

As  baptism,  in  the  case  of  infants,  is  not  their  volun- 
tary act,  it  is  very  suitable  that  they  should,  when  they 
arrive  to  years  of  discretion,  confirm  what  has  been 
done,  and  express  their  agreement  to  the  stipulations  en- 
tered into  in  their  behalf  by  their  sponsors.  If,  there- 
fore, confirmation  had  no  higher  design  and  origin  than 
what  may  be  found  in  the  expediency  of  an  act,  which, 
as  it  were,  renews  the  baptismal  vows,  and  binds  the  sub- 
jects of  it  in  their  own  persons  to  the  fulfilment  of  them, 
this,  of  itself,  would  be  sufficient  to  demonstrate  its  fit- 
ness and  utility.  But,  besides  this  natural  tendency  of 
its  operation,  it  possesses  the  advantage  of  an  instituted 
means  of  grace.  We  read  in  the  Acts,*  that  Philip  the 
deacon  had  been'  the  instrument  of  converting  and  bap- 
tising the  people  of  Samaria:  upon  hearing  of  this,  the 
Apostles  sent  down  to  them  Peter  and  John,  two  of  their 
own  body;  who,  by  prayer,  accompanied  by  the  imposi- 
tion of  hands,  obtained  for  them  a  greater  degree,  than 
they  had  received,  of  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

From  this,  and  other  like  instances  of  the  practice  of 
the  Apostles,  is  derived,  what  Bishops,  their  successors, 
have  practised  ever  since,  and  which  we  now  call  con- 
firmation. Preaching  was  common  to  all  ranks  of  min- 
isters: baptising  was  usually  performed  by  the  lowest 
rank;  but,  perhaps,  to  maintain  a  due  subordination,  it 
was  reserved  to  the  highest,  by  prayer  and  imposition  of 
hands,  to  communicate  further  measures  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. — It  was  indeed  peculiar  to  the  Apostles,  that  on 
their  intercession,  extraordinary  and  miraculous  gifts 

*Acts  viii. 


148  THE  EPISCOPAL  MAN0AL. 

were  bestowed;  which  continued  in  the  Church  no  longer 
than  the  need  of  them  did:  But  unquestionably,  by  their 
petitions  they  procured  for  every  sincere  convert,  a  much 
more  valuable,  though  much  less  remarkable  blessing,  of 
universal  and  perpetual  necessity,  viz.  the  ordinary  and 
saving  graces  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  "For  these,  therefore,'* 
says  Archbishop  Seeker,  "after  their  example  trusting 
that  God  will  have  regard,  not  to  our  unvvorthiness,  but 
to  the  purposes  of  mercy  which  he  hath  appointed  us  to 
serve,  we  intercede  now,  when  persons  take  upon  them- 
selves the  vow  of  their  baptism." 

The  offices  used  in  confirmation  proceed  upon  the  sup- 
position, that  the  persons  offering  themselves  for  the  rite, 
have  true  repentance  and  faith,  and  that  they  are  stead- 
fastly resolved  to  live  new  lives;  that,  *'beingnow  come 
to  the  years  of  discretion,  and  having  learned  what  their 
Godfathers  and  Godmothers  promised  for  them  in  bap- 
tism, they  do,  themselves,  with  their  own  mouth  and  con- 
sent, openly  before  the  Church,  ratify  and  confirm  the 
same;  and  also  promise,  that,  by  the  grace  of  God,  they 
will  evermore  endeavour,  themselves,  faithfully  to  ob- 
serve such  things  as  they  themselves  have  assented 
unto."*  Having  then  solemnly  made  these  promises  be- 
fore God  and  his  church,  the  Bishop  puts  his  hands  on 
them,  and  prays  that  they  may  receive  greater  increase 
in  the  Holy  Spirit,  until  they  come  to  God's  everlasting 
kingdom. 

It  is  true  that  many  abuse  this  ordinance,  and  derive 
no  benefit,  but  rather  condemnation,  from  its  observance. 
But  still  this  does  not  prove  it  to  be  wrong.  However 
this,  and  every  other  good  thing,  maybe  abused,  no  good 
argument  can  be  drawn  from  that  consideration  against 
its  right  performance.  It  must  appear  proper  and  useful 
that  when  persons  have  been  duly  instructed  by  the  care 
of  their  parents,  friends,  and  ministers,  they  should, 
with  joyful  gratitude,  acknowledge  them  to  have  faith- 
fully performed  that  kindest  duty.  It  must  be  proper 
and"  useful,   that,  before  they  are  admitted  to  the  holy 

*  Preface  to  the  order  of  confirmation. 


THE  EnSCOPAL  MANUAL.  149 

communion,  they  should  give  public  assurance  of  their 
Christian  belief  and  Christian  purposes-  This  must  be 
also  extremely  useful  to  themselves.  For,  young  per- 
sons are  just  entering  upon  a  world  full  of  temptations, 
with  no  experience,  and  little  knowledge  to  guard  them, 
and  much  youthful  rashness  to  expose  them.  The 
authority  of  others  over  them  is  beginning  to  lessen;  their 
own  passions  to  increase,  and  evil  communications  to 
have  greater  opportunities  of  corrupting  good  manners. 
What  can  be  more  necessary  then,  or  more  likely  to  pre- 
serve them  from  falling  than  to  form  the  most  deliberate 
resolutions  of  acting  right;  and  to  declare  them  in  a  man- 
ner, thus  adapted  to  atFect  them  at  the  time,  and  be  re- 
membered by  them  afterwards;  in  the  presence  of  God, 
of  a  number  of  his  ministers,  and  of  a  large  congregation 
of  his  people,  assembled  with  more  than  ordinary  solem- 
nity for  that  very  purpose.* 

"There  is  no  question  to  be  made  of  it,"  says  Sishop 
Wilson,  *'but  that  most  of  that  ignorance,  impiety,  pro- 
faneness,  want  of  cliarity,  of  union,  and  order,  which  we 
complain  of,  is  owing  to  the  neglect  or  abuse  of  this  one 
ordinance;  which  being  appointed  by  the  Apostles,  agd 
practised  even  when  baptism  was  administered  to  people 
of  full  age,t  it  is  no  wonder  that  God  punishes  the  con- 
tempt of  it,  by  withholding  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  those 
graces  which  are  necessary,  and  would  certainly  accom- 
pany the  religious  use  of  it. 

**lf  this  were  well  considered,  and  pastors  would  re- 
" solve  to  discharge  their  duty  in  this  particular  faithfully, 
we  should  soon  see  another  face  of  religion;  Christians 
would  be  obliged  to  study  their  religion,  and  to  think  it 
something  more  than  the  work  of  the  lips,  and  of  the 
memory,  or  the  mere  custom  of  the  place  where  they  live. 
And  being  made  sensible  of  their  danger,  (being  liable 
to  sin,  to  death,  and  to  damnation,)  this  would  make 
them  serious,  and  thoughtful,  and  inquisitive,   after  the 

*  See  Archbishop  Seeker's  Lectures, 
f  Acts  viii.  17. 


150 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


manner  of  their  redemption,  and  their  means  of  salva- 
tion: and  their  consciences  being  awakened  and  inform- 
ed-, sin  would  become  more  uneasy  to  them,  and  virtue 
more  acceptable.  In  short,  by  this  means,  people  would 
know  their  duty,  the  sacraments  would  be  kept  from 
being  profaned,"  and  pastors  would  be  respected  and 
obeyed,  as  being  very  truly  the  fathers  of  their  flock. 

**And  certainly  no  greater  injury  can  be  done  to  reli- 
gion, than  to  suffer  young  people  to  come  to  confirmation 
before  they  know  the  reason  of  this  service,  and  have 
been  well  instructed  in  the  principles  and  duties  of 
Christianity.  This  being  the  very  time  of  seasoning 
their  minds  with  sound  knowledge,  of  fortifying  their 
wills  with  sober  resolutions,  and  of  engaging  them  to 
piety,  before  sin  has  got  possession  of  their  affections, 
this  being  also  the  time  of  qualifying  them  to  receive 
benefit  by  all  cur  future  labours,  and  of  arming  them 
against  apostacy,  heresy,  schism,  and  other  vices,  to 
which  we  are  subject  in  this  state  of  trial." 

"In  short,  I  do  not  know  how  a  clergyman  could  spend 
one  month  better,  than  by  leading  people,  as  it  were,  by 
the  hand,  into  the  design  of  Chnstianity,  by  some  such 
easy  method  as  this  following,  which,  if  deliberately  pro- 
posed to  every  single  person  in  the  hearing  of  all  the 
rest,  (who  should  be  obliged  to  be  every  day  present) 
and  familiarly  explained, ^ot  the  most  ignorant  (suppos- 
ing he  had  learned,  as  he  ought,  the  Church  Catechism) 
but  would  be  able  to  give  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in 
him;  and  his  faith  beuig  thus  built  upon  a  solid  and  sure 
foundation  would,  by  the  grace  of  God  now  imparted  to 
him,  in  a  greater  measure  withstand  all  future  trials  and 
temptations."-'- 

ADDRESS 

To  those  who  are  to  be  Confirmed. 

"Your  parents  took  care  (as  the  Jews  did  by  their 
children)  to  consecrate  you  to  God  and  Christ  as  soon  as 

*  See  Bishop  Wilson's  parochialia  for  many  questions  suitable 
to  be  asked  of  those  who  are  to  be  confirmed. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  151 

you  were  born.  And  this  they  did  by  baptism  (as  Jesus 
Christ  had  commanded)  by  which  holy  ceremony  you 
were  dedicated  to  God,  who  made  you;  to  Jesus  Christ, 
who  redeemed  you;  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  sancti- 
fieth  all  God's  chosen  servants. 

"Thus  you  were  translated  (or  taken)  out  of  the  king- 
dom of  darkness  into  the  kingdom,  protection  and  gov- 
ernment of  Jesus  Christ.*  And  being  thus  received  into 
Christ's  Church,  you  became  a  child  of  God,  and  an  heir 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

*'But  then  you  are  to  consider,  that  before  you  were 
admitted  to  this  favour,  your  sureties  promised  for  you, 
that  when  you  should  come  to  age,  you  should  in  your 
own  person,  and  with  your  own  free  consent,  renounce 
the  devil  and  all  his  works,  the  world  and  all  its  wicked 
customs,  and  the  flesh  with  all  its  sinful  fusts;  that  you 
should  believe  in  God,  that  is,  receive  the  gospel  as  a  rule 
of  faith,  and  obediently  keep  God's  commandments. 

'You  are  now  therefore  called  upon  to  do  this  before 
God,  who  knows  all  the  secrets  of  your  hearts;  before 
God's  minister,  who  will  charge  you  very  solemnly  to  be 
sincere:  and  before  the  congregation,  who  will  be  wit- 
nesses against  you  if  you  shall  break  your  vows." 

Watch  over  your  hearts  therefore  and  let  thein  go 
along  with  your  lips.  The  two  short  words  /  do,  are 
soon  said,  but  remember  how  much  is  comprehended  in 
them.  Whoever  uses  them  on  this  occasion,  says  in 
effect  as  follows:  '•/  do  heartily  renounce  all  the  tempta- 
tions of  the  devil;  all  the  unlawful  pleasures,  profits 
and  honour  of  this  world,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  the  lust 
of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life.  /  do  sincerely  be- 
lieve, and. will  constantly  not  be  ashamed  to  confess  be- 
fore men,  all  the  articles  of  the  Christian  faith.  /  do 
firmly  resolve  to  keep  all  God's  commandments,  all  the 
days  of  my  life;  to  love  and  honour  him,  to  pray  to  him, 
and  praise  him  daily  in  private;  to  attend  conscientiously 
on  the  public  worship  and  instruction  he  hath  appointed; 
to  approach  his  holy  table  as  soon  as  his  grace  has  quali- 

*  Col.  i.  13. 


152  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUALS 

fied  me  for  doing  it  worthily;  to  submit  to  his  blessed 
will  meekly  and  patiently  in  all  things;  to  set  him  ever 
before  my  eyes,  and  acknowledge  him  in  all  my  ways. 
/  do  further  resolve,  in  the  whole  course  of  my  behaviour 
amongst  my  fellow  creatures,  to  do  justly,  to  love  mer- 
cy, speak  truth,  be  diligent  and  useful  in  my  station, 
dutiful  to  my  superiors,  condescending  to  those  beneath 
me,  friendly  to  my  equals;  careful  through  all  the  rela- 
tions of  life,  to  act  as  the  nature  of  them  requires,  and 
conduct  myself  so  to  all  men,  as  I  should  think  it  rea- 
sonable that  they  should  do  to  me  in  the  like  case.  /  do 
resolve  in  the  government  of  myself,  to  be  modest,  so- 
ber, temperate,  mild,  humble,  contented:  to  restrain 
every  passion  aud  appetite  within  due  bounds,  and  to 
set  my  heart  not  on  the  sensual  enjoyments  of  this  tran- 
sitory world,  but  on  the  spiritual  happiness  of  the  eter- 
nal world.  In  a  word,  /  do  resolve  to  aim  after  that 
mind  which  was  in  my  blossed  master,  to  follow  his 
steps,  to  imitate  his  example,  that  with  him  I  may  dwell 
in  Heaven.'' 

Such  are  the  vows  which  you  take  upon  you  when  you 
are  confirmed,  and  it  should  be  from  a  heart-felt  convic- 
tion of  your  desire  to  fulfil  them,  that  you  should  venture 
upon  this  solemn  ceremony.  Those  who  come  in  a  tri- 
fling and  thoughtless  manner,  and  merely  for  form's  sake, 
are  not  aware,  that  they  are  telling  a  lie  unto  God,  when 
they  make  promises  which  they  never  fulfil,  and  perhaps 
never  intend  to  fulfil. 

''I  must  tell  you  farther,"  says  Bishop  Wilson,  <«that 
to  root  or  keep  out  evil  habits,  and  to  get  habits  of  vir- 
tue, and  to  live  as  becomes  a  Christian,  is  not  so  easily 
done  as  promised. 

<*You  will  be  obliged  to  take  pains,  to  watch  and  pray, 
and  deny  yourself,  and  even  lay  down  your  life,  rather 
than  deny  your  profession,  or  dissemble  it. 

«*J3ut  then  you  will  not  think  this  too  much,  when 
you  consider,  that  it  is  for  your  life,  and  that  it  is  to 
escape  eternal  death. 

"For  Jesus  Christ  has  made  known  to  us,  that  this  life 
is  a  state  of  trial,  and  only  a  passage  to  another  life, 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL^  153 

when  God  will  take  an  account  how  all  men  have  be- 
haved themselves  heVe,  and  appoint  them  a  portion  suit- 
able to  what  they  have  done  in  the  body,  whether  good 
or  bad.  When  they  that  have  done  good  shall  go  into 
life  everlastings  and  they  that  have  done  evil  into  everlast- 
ing misery. 

* 'Now,' that  you  may  not  despair  of  going  through  the 
work  of  your  salvation,  and  getting  the  victory  over  all 
your  enemies,  Jesus  Christ  hath  sent  down  his  Hol^ 
Spirit,  to  be  communicated  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,* 
to  all  such  as  are  disposed  to  receive  him:  by  which 
Almighty  Spirit  all  your  enemies  shall  be  subdued,  all 
your  lusts  mortified,  your  corruptions  rooted  out,  and 
your  soul  purified;  so  that  when  you  die,  you  will  be  fit 
to  be  carried  to  the  quiet  and  happy  regions  of  paradise, 
where  the  souls  of  the  faithful  enjoy  perpetual  rest  and 
happiness." 


A  PRAYER 

That  may  he  used  by  those  who  are  to  be  Confirmed,  f 

O  Lord,  graciously  behold  me  thy  unworthy  servant, 
who,  according  to  the  appointment  of  thy  church,  am 
going  to  dedicate  myself  to  thee  and  thy  service. 

Possess  my  heart  with  such  a  lively  sense  of  thy  great 
mercy,  in  bringing  me  from  darkness  to  the  marvellous 
light  of  thy  gospel;  in  giving  me  an  early  right  to  thy 
covenant,  and  an  early  knowledge  of  my  duty;  that 
with  the  full  consent  of  my  will,  I  may  devote  myself 
to  thee;  that  so  I  may  receive  the  fulness  of  thy  grace, 
and  be  able  to  withstand  all  the  temptations  of  the  world, 
the  flesh  and  the  devil. 

Continue  me,  O  Lord,  in  the  unity  of  thy  church,  and 
grant  that  I  may  improve  all  the  means  of  grace  vouch- 
safed me  in  this  church,  of  which  I  am  a  member. 

*Acts  vili.  17. 

f  Bishop  Wilson's  Parochialia. 


154  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

Preserve  in  my  mind  a  constant  remembrance  of  that 
love,  and  of  those  solemn  vows,  which  I  am  going  to  re- 
new before  thee  and  thy  church.  That  professing  to  be 
thy  servant,  I  may  ever  walk  as  in  thy  sight,  avoid  all 
such  things  as  are  contrary  to  my  profession,  and  follow 
all  such  as  are  agreeable  to  the  same. 

0  Lord,  who  hast  called  us  to  be  thy  children  by  adop- 
tion, bring  us  in  thj  good  time  to  thine  everlasting  king- 
dom, through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.    Amen. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


History  of  the  Liturgy. 

The  word  Liturgy  (AiTov|yt«)  from  "Kity^  prayer,  and 
?^yoy  work,  signifies  literally  the  work  or  labour  of 
prayer  and  supplication;  and  he  who  labours  not  in  his 
prayers,  prays  not  at  all.*  And  from  "Kitm  prayers, 
comes  litany,  XiTxvuLx,  supplication,  a  collection  of  pray- 
ers in  the  liturgy,  or  public  service  of  the  Church.  Pre- 
vious to  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  the  liturgy  was  all 
said  or  sung  in  Latin,  except  the  Creed,  the  Lord's 
prayer,  and  the  ten  commandments,  which  in  15S6, 
were  translated  into  English  by  the  king,  for  the  use  of 
the  common  people.  In  1545,  says  Fuller,  the  liturgy 
was  permitted  in  English,  and  this  was  the  farthest  pace 
the  reformation  stept  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII. 

In  the  first  year  of  King  Edward  VI.  1547,  it  was  re- 
commended to  certain  grave  and  learned  Bishops  and 
others,  then  assembled  by  order  of  the  king,  at  Windsor 
Castle,  to  draw  up  a  communion  service,  and  to  revise 
all  the  other  offices.  This  service  was  accordingly  pro- 
posed and  published,  and  strongly  recommended  by 
special  letter  from  Lord  Seymour,  Lord  Protector,  and 
the  other  Lords  of  the  council.  The  persons  who  com- 
posed this  work  were  the  following. 

1  Thomas  Cranmer,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

2  George  Day,  Bishop  of  Chichester. 

3  Thomas  Goodrick,  Bishop  of  Ely. 

4  John  Skip,  Bishop  of  Hereford. 

5  Henry  Holbeach,  Bishop  of  London. 

6  Nicholas  Ridley,  Bishop  of  Rochester. 

*  Matthew  xi.  12.    Rom.  viii.  26. 


^56  THE  EPISCOPAL  MA:\UAL. 

7  Thomas  Thirlby,  Bishop  of  Westminster, 

8  Dr.  May,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 

9  John  Taylor,  then  Dean,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Lin- 

coin. 

10  Dr.  Haines,  Dean  of  Exeter. 

11  Dr.  Robinson,  afterwards  Dean  of  Durham. 

12  Dr.  John   Redman,    Master  of    Trinity   College, 

Cambridge. 

13  Dr.  Richard  Cox,  then  almoner  to  the  King,  and  af- 

terwards Bishop  of  Ely. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  as  the  first  translators  of 
the  scriptures  into  the  English  language,  were,  several  of 
them,  persecuted  usto  death,  so  some  of  the  chief  of 
those  who  translated  the  bbok  of  common  prayer  (Arch- 
bishop Cranmer  and  Bishop  Ridley)  were  burnt  alive. 

This  was  the  first  edition  of  the  common  prayer.  It 
was  afterwards  ordered  by  a  statute  in  parliament  (5  and 
6  of  Edward  VI.)  ^Hhat  it  should  be  faithfully  (Did  godly 
perused,  explained^  and  made  fully  perfect,''^  The  chief 
alterations  made  in  consequence  of  this  order  were 
these:  the  general  confession  and  absolution  were  added, 
and  the  communion  service  was  made  to  begin  with  the 
ten  commandments;  the  use  of  oil  in  confirmation,  and 
extreme  unction  were  left  out;  also  prayers  for  the 
dead,  and  certain  expressions  that  had  a  tendency  to 
countenance  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation. 

The  same  persons  to  whom  the  compiling  of  the  com- 
munion service,  as  above  stated,  was  entrusted,  were 
employed  in  this  revision,  which  was  completed  and 
published  in  1548.  On  the  accession  of  Queen  Mdivy, 
this  liturgy  was  abolished,  and  the  prayer  book,  as  it 
stood  in  the  last  of  Henry  VIII.  commanded  to  be  used 
in  its  place.  In  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  1559,  the  former  liturgy  was  restored,  and 
subjected  to  a  further  revision,  by  which  some  few  pas- 
sages were  altered,  and  the  petitions  of  the  litany  ad- 
justed, in  order  that  the  conscientious  Roman  Catholics 
might  not  be  prevented  from  joining  in  the  common 
service.    This  being  done,  it  was  presented  to  parlia- 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


157 


ment,  and  by  them  received  and  established,  and  the  act 
of  uniformity,  which  is  usually  printed  with  the  liturgy, 
published  by  the  Queen's  authority,  and  sent  throughout 
the  nation.  The  persons  employed  in  the  revision  were 
the  following: 

1  Mr.   Whitehead,  once  Chaplain  to  Anna  Bullein. 

2  Matthew  Parker,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Can- 

terbury. 

3  Edmund  Grindall,  afterwards  Bishop  of  London. 

4  Richard  Cox,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Ely. 

5  James  Pilkinton,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Durham. 

6  Dr.  May,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  Master  of  Trin- 

ity College,  Cambridge. 

7  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  Principle  Secretary  of  State. 

In  the  first  year  of  King  James,  1603,  another  revi- 
sion took  place,  and  a  few  alterations  were  made,  which 
consisted  principally  in  the  addition  of  some  prayers 
and  thanksgivings,  some  alterations  in  the  rubrics  re- 
lative to  the  office  of  private  baptism,  and  the  addition 
of  that  part  of  the  catechism  which  contains  the  doc- 
trine of  the  sacraments. 

In  this  state  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  continued 
till  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  who  on  the  2^h  October 
1660,  '^granted  his  commission  under  the  great  seal  of 
England,  to  several  Bishops  and  divines,  to  review  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  to  prepare  such  additiois 
and  alterations  as  the^f  tfeought  fit  to  ofier."  In  the  fol- 
lowing year.,  the  king  assembled  the  convocations  of 
boilh  the  provinces  of  Canterbury  and  York,  and  au- 
thorized the  Presidents  of  those  convocations  and  other, 
the  Bishops  and  clergy  of  the  same,  to  review  the  said 
Bookorf"  Common  Prayer,  &c.  requiring  them,  *'after 
mature  consideration,  to  make  such  alterations  and  ad- 
ditions as  to  them  should  seem  most  convenient."  This 
was  accordingly  done,  several  prayers  being  added,  and 
the  whole  published  with  the  act  of  uniformity  in  the 

14 


158  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

14th  of  Charles  II.  1661;^  since  which  time  it  has  UB- 
dergone  no  further  revision,  (though  an  abortive  com- 
mission for  that  purpose  was  issued  in  the  year  1689) 
until,  in  the  United  States,  since  their  separation  from 
Great  Britain,  it  was  altered,  principally  with  a  view  to 
suit  the  local  changes  which  our  new  political  relation 
made  necessary. 

This  is  a  short  history  of  a  work,  of  which.  Dr. 
Clarke,  who  is  a  man  of  considerable  erudition,  and 
who,  being  a  Methodist  preacher,  may  be  considered  as 
an  impartial  witness,  speaks,  as  being  ''almost  univer- 
sally esteemed  by  the  devout  and  pious  of  every  denomi- 
nation, and  the  greatest  effort  of  the  reformation,  next 
to  the  translation  of  the  scriptures  into  the  English 
language," — *'a  work  which  all  who  are  acquainted  with 
it,  deem  superior  to  every  thing  of  the  kind  produced 
either  by  ancient  or  modern  times.  *'lt  would  be  dis- 
ingenuous," continues  he,  *'not  toacknowledge^that  the 
chief  of  those  prayers  were  in  use  in  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church,  from  which  the  Church  of  England  is 
reformed;  and  it  would  betray  a  want  of  acquaintance 
with  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  to  suppose  that  those  pray- 
ers and  services  originated  in  that  church;  as  several  of 
them  were  in  use  from  the  first  ages  of  antiquity,  and 
many  of  the  best  of  them  before  the  name  of  pope  or 
popery  was  known  in  the  earth. "t 

To  this  may  be  added  the  following  just  commenda- 
tion of  the  liturgy  by  Dr.  Comber  in  the  preface  to  his 
Companion  to  the  Temple.  "Though  all  churches  in 
the  world  have,  and  ever  had,  forms  of  prayer,  yet  none 
was  ever  blessed  with  so  comprehensive,  so  exact,  and 
so  inoffensive  a  composure  as  ours,  which  is  so  judi- 
ciously contrived,  that  the  wisest  may  exercise  at  once 
their  knowledge  and  devotion,  and  yet  so  plain,  that  the 
most  ignorant  may  pray  witli  understanding;  so  full  that 
nothing  is  omitted  which  is  lit  to  be  asked  in  public,  and 

*See  Burnet,  Prettyman's  Elements  of  Theology,  &c. 
f  Preface  to  Claiice's  coinir.cr.tajy  on  the  IJible,  page  xxii,  from 
which  some  of  the  foregoing  history  is  taken. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  159 

SO  particular,  that  it  compriseth  most  things  which  we 
would  ask  in  private,  and  yet  so  short  as  not  to  tire  any 
that  hath  true  devotion.  Its  doctrine  is  pure  and  pri- 
mitive; its  ceremonies  so  few  and  innocent,  that,  most 
of  the  Christian  world  agree  in  them;  its  method  is 
exact  and  natural;  its  language  significant  and  perspi- 
cuous; most  of  the  words  and  phrases  being  taken  out 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the  rest  are  the  expressions  of 
the  first  and  purest  ages;  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  the 
most  impartial  and  most  excellent  Grotius,  (who  was  no 
member  of,  nor  had  any  obligation  to,  this  church)  that 
the  English  liturgy  comes  so  near  to  the  primitive  pat- 
tern, that  none  of  the  reformed  churches  can  compare 
with  it.  Whoever  desires  to  worship  God  with  zeal  and 
knowledge,  spirit  and  truth,  purity  and  sincerity,  may 
do  it  by  these  devout  forms.  And  to  this  end  may  the 
God  of  peace  give  us  all  meek  hearts,  quiet  spirits,  and 
devout  affections;  and  free  us  from  all  sloth  and  preju- 
dice, that  we  may  have  full  churches,  frequent  prayers, 
and  fervent  charity;  that,  uniting  in  our  prayers  here, 
we  may  all  join  in  his  praises  hereafter,  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.         Amen." 

It  does  not  comport  with  the  design  of  this  work  to 
enter  minutely  into  the  detail  on  the  articles  of  belief, 
but  merely  to  explain  cursorily  the  prominent  parts,  and, 
particularly,  such  as  are  liable  to  objection;  leaving  the 
rest  to  be  explained  by  those  who  have  undertaken  to 
treat  them  fully.*  It  may  not  be  amiss,  however  to  take 
some  notice  of  a  difiiculty  that  exists  with  regard  to 
that  part  of  the  creed  which  speaks  of  Christ's  descend- 
ing into  Hell. 

This  appears  to  have  been  introduced  very  early  into 
the  creed  of  the  Church,  and  is  grounded  upon  several 
passages  in  scripture.  *«Now  thatlhe  ascended,  what  is 
it  but  that  he  first  descended  into  the  lower  parts  of  the 
earth?"  Ephe.  iv.  '9.  ^'Therefore  did  my  heart  rejoice, 
and  my  tongue  was  glad:  moreover  also  my  flesh'  shall 
rest  in  hope.     Because  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in 

*Burnet,  Pearson,  Nicols,  Wheatly,  Shepherd,  Simon,  &c. 


^^0  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL« 

hell,  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thy  Holy  One  to  see  cor- 
ruption." Psalm  xvi.  10.  The  Apostle  applies  this  to 
our  Lord,  "He  being  a  prophet,  and  seeing  this  before^ 
spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  that  his  soul  was 
not  left  in  hell,  neither  his  flesh  did  see  corruption." 

The  first  thought  of  most  persons  leads  them  to  sup- 
pose, that  the  word  hell,  in  these  places  as  well  as  in  the 
creedj  signifies  what  it  does  in  common  speech,  the  place 
where  the  wicked  are  tormented.  And  it  has  been  ima- 
gined that  Christ  went  to  triumph  over  the  devil  there; 
and  some  add,  to  rescue  part  of  the  souls  which  he  held 
under  confinement,  by  preaching  as  St.  Peter  says  he 
did,  to  the  spirits  that  were  in  prison.*  But  the  place 
of  torment  is  never  determinately  expressed  in  scrip- 
ture by  the  word  Hades,  which  both  the  scripture  and 
the  creed  use  in  this  article;  though  unhappily  our 
translators,  perhaps  for  want  of  a  good  English  word, 
have  used  the  Saxon  word  Hell  for  both,  instead  of  ren- 
dering it  in  this  place,  what  it  strictly  signifies,  the 
invisible  state  or  region.  We  do  not  read  of  our  Sa- 
viour's triumphing  over  the  devil  any  where  but  on  the 
cross.t  And  "the  spirits  in  prison"  to  whom  St.  Peter 
saith  Christ  by  the  spirit  preached,  he  saith  also  where 
those,  "which  were  disobedient,  when  the  long  suffering 
of  God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah.  "J  And  therefore 
Christ's  preaching  to  them  b}^  his  spirit  probably  means, 
his  exciting  them  by  his  spirit  which  strove  with  them§ 
for  a  time.  But  not  hearkening  to  him  then,  they  are 
now  in  prison,  reserved  for  the  sentence  of  the  last 
day. 

The  most  common  meaning,  among  the  Heathens, 
Jews  and  first  Christians,  of  the  word  Hades,  here 
translated  hell,  was  in  general  the  invisible  world,  one 
part  or  another  of  which,  the  souls  of  the  deceased, 
whether  good  or  bad,  inhabit.  How  the  soul  of  our  Sa- 
viour was  employed  in  this  abode,  and  for  what  reasons 
he  continued  there  during  this  time,  "that  he  might  be 

*1  Pet.  iii.  19.      fCol.  ii.  14,  15.     :^1  Pet.  iii.  20.      §Gen.  vi.  3. 


THE    EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  161 

like  unto  his  brethren  in  all  things,"  we  are  not  told, 
and  need  not  guess. — But  probably  this  article  was 
made  part  of  the  creed,  in  order  to  assert  and  prove, 
contrary  to  the  opinions  of  the  ApoUinarians,  that  he 
had  really  a  human  soul  separated  from  his  body. 
Whatever  may  be  the  reasons,  we  can  very  conscien- 
tiously express  our  belief  that  he  descended  into  hell,  or 
hades,  or  the  place  of  departed  spirits,  as  the  rubric 
prefixed  to  the  creed  in  the  American  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  permits. 


U* 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


Festivals  and  Fasts. 

In  the  Jewish  Church  many  festivals  were  observed, 
according:  to  the  command  of  God  himself,  such  as  the 
feast  of  the  passover,  of  weeks,  and  of  tabernacles.  Our 
Saviour  also  kept  a  feast  instituted  by  that  Church,  viz. 
the  feast  of  dedication. 

The  primitive  Christians  were  wont  once  a  year  to 
meet  at  the  graves  of  the  mart3'^rs,  there  solemnly  to  re- 
cite their  sufferings  and  triumphs,  to  commend  their  vir- 
tues, to  bless  God  for  their  holy  lives  and  pious  deaths, 
and  to  encourage  each  other  to  follow  their  examples. 

Since  it  is  a  duty  to  be  grateful,  and  to  give  thanks  to 
God  for  the  blessings  we  receive  from  him,  it  must  be 
not  only  lawful  but  commendable,  to  appoint  and  observe 
days  for  the  particular  remembrance  of  such  blessings 
and  to  give  thanks  for  them.  It  has  a  further  use  too  in 
calling  our  attention,  in  proper  order,  to  the  various  topics 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  practice.  What  is  left  to  be 
done  at  any  time  is  in  danger  of  being  done  at  no  time. 
For  this  reason,  as  well  as  others,  the  Church  has  ap- 
pointed a  course  of  festivals  and  fasts,  commemorative 
of  certain  events,  and  involving  peculiar  doctrines,  and 
duties;  that  every  minister  might  not  be  left  to  the 
temptation  to  confine  his  discourses  to  a  few  favorite 
topics,  but  should  feel  it  his  duty  to  range  the  whole 
field  of  doctrinal  and  moral  instruction.  Thus  she  com- 
mences with  her  advent  Sundays,  vvliich  call  upon  us  to 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  fit  ourselves  to  rejoice 
in  the  glad  tidings  of  his  birth,  and  live  in  constant  ex- 
pectation and  readiness  for  that  awful  day,  when  He 
^hall  come  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven  to  judge  the  quick 
and  dead.  She  calls  us  to  follow  him  from  his  birth, 
through  his  period  of  infancy,  and  his  fasting  and  temp- 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANtJAL.  L63 

tations  in  the  wilderness,  to  the  consummation  of  the 
mysterious  plan  of  redemption,  by  his  death  upon  the 
cross.  Having  followed  him  in  his  humiliation  and  self 
denial,  and  felt  the  sympathy  of  his  sacred  sorrows,  we 
come  out  of  this  dark  night,  to  behold  him  rising,  like 
the  sun  of  the  universe,  from  his  ocean  tomb,  scattering 
the  shades  of  darkness,  and  displaying  to  us  the  charter 
of  our  immortality.  In  his  resurrection  and  ascension, 
he  opens  to  us  the  gates  of  Heaven,  and  shewing  us  the 
glories  of  that  holy  city,  commands  us  to  set  our  affec- 
tion on  things  above.  We  are  next  called  to  view  him 
as  the  Prince  of  Israel,  giving  repentance  and  remission 
of  sins,  and  in  the  services  of  Whitsunday,  to  seek  those 
sanctifying  graces  and  comforting  influences,  which  he 
shed  so  abundantly  on  the  Pentecostal  day.  In  all  these 
and  the  following*^  seasons,  the  great  and  fundamental 
truths  of  Christianity  are  necessarily  brought  before  our 
view,  and  the  lessons,  and  collects,  and  sermons  are 
suited  to  bear  their  varied  and  correspondent  share  in 
the  means  of  grace;  ''that  the  man  of  God  may  be  per- 
fect and  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 

The  Jewish  fasts  were  very  numerous;  our  Lord  him- 
self fasted,  and  recommended  the  same  practice  to  his 
disciples.  The  ancient  Christians  observed  their  fasts 
with  great  rigour,  and  on  the  first  day  of  Lent  were 
wont  to  sprinkle  ashes  upon  their  heads  in  token  of  their 
sorrow  and  humiliation.  Hence  it  received  the  name  of 
Ash- Wednesday.  Our  Church,  following  these  exam- 
ples, recommends  various  fasts;  as  appears  in  the  pre- 
fatory part  of  the  Prayer  Book. 

The  use  of  fasting  is  not  considered  by  the  Church  in 
the  light  of  penance,  as  though  God  took  any  pleasure 
in,  or  would  be  propitiated  by,  our  afflicting  ourselves 
by  fasting,  or  lacerating  our  flesh.  She  exhcyts  us  to 
"rend  our  hearts  and  not  our  garments."  But  fasting  is 
highly  useful,  as  it  gives  us  a  habit  of  self-denial,  and  an 
aptitude  to  deny  ourselves  in  unlawful  matters;  it  tends 
to  shew  us  our  dependence  on  God,  to  teach  us  humility, 
and  makes  us  sympathize  with  our  poorer  brethren,  who 
often  liave  to  fast  from  necessity.    It  lessens  the  fuel  of 


164  THfc    EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

our  passions,  and  aids  us  eminently  in  subjecting  the 
animal  and  earthly  part  of  our  nature,  to  the  spiritual 
and  heavenly.  Dr.  Rush  in  his  essay  on  the  influence 
of  physical  causes  on  the  moral  faculty,  speaking  of  the 
fasts  of  the  Jews,  commends  the  practice,  as  tending  in 
a  very  important  manner,  to  the  health  of  the  body  and 
of  the  mind;  and  says,  that  the  various  vices  are  as  much 
a  consequence  of  high  and  luxurious  indulgence,  as  are 
apoplexies  and  many  other  diseases  of  the"^  body.  Our 
Lord,  who  well  knew  the  nature  of  man,  has  declared 
that  there  is  one  kind  of  devil  which  goeth  not  out  but 
by  fasting  and  prayer. 

A  custom  therefore  so  highly  sanctioned,  and  attended 
with  such  important  beneiits,  deserves  our  attention.  In 
the  manner  of  it,  regard  must  be  had  to  health  and  the 
nature  of  the  constitution.  In  some  instances,  merely 
to  abstain  partially,  or  from  a  favorite  dish,  answer  all 
the  purposes  of  the  discipline.  But  let  high  fed  volup- 
tuaries accustom  themselves  often  to  bring  their  bodies 
into  subjection,  or  else  they  will  subject  them  to  the 
slavery  and  misery  which  always  attend  upon  uncon- 
trolled passions. 

"When  thou  fastest,  appear  not  unto  men  to  fast,  but 
unto  thy  Father  in  secret,  and  he  which  seeth  in  secret, 
shall  reward  thee  openly."*  It  would  render  all  our 
fasts  more  acceptable  to  God,  if  we  M'ould  accompany 
them  with  acts  of  charity  and  mercy.  ''Is  not  this  the 
fast  that  I  have  chosen?  to  loose  the  bands  of  wicked- 
ness, to  undo  the  heavy  burthens,  and  to  let  the  op- 
pressed go  free,  and  that  ye  break  every  yoke?  Is  it 
not  to  deal  thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  and  that  thou  bring 
the  poor  that  are  cast  out  of  thy  house,  when  thou  seest 
the  naked,  that  thou  cover  him;  and  that  thou  iiide  not 
thyself  from  thy  own  flesh?  Then  shall  thy  light  break 
forth  as  the  morning,  and  thine  health  shall  spring  forth 
speedily;  and  thy  righteousness  shall  go  before  thee;  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  thy  rereward."t 

•Matt.  vi.  Ite.  flsaiah  Iviii.  6,  7,  8. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Worship. 


In  our  addresses  to  the  great  Supreme,  in  our  public 
and  social  capacities,  it  seems  very  desirable,  that  our 
petitions  should  be  framed  in  such  a  manner,  as  in  some 
sort  to  correspond  to  the  dignity  of  so  august  an  act,  and 
to  the  character  of  the  parties  engaged  in  it.  It  is  im- 
portant also,  that  they  should  be  so  framed  as  to  be  con- 
cise and  yet  comprehensive,  complete  and  yet  free  from 
redundance.  Now  is  it  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  these 
objects  could  be  better  attained  by  the  united  wisdom 
and  piety  of  wise  and  good  men,  than  by  the  ingenuity 
of  any  individual  whatever.  The  evil  of  each  one's 
being  left  to  offer  the  prayers  of  the  congregation  to  the 
throne  of  Heaven  has  often  been  felt,  either  in  the  fre- 
quent repetitions,  or  in  the  omission  of  some  important 
blessing,  or  in  the  crude,  if  not  disgusting  mode,  with 
which  extemporaneous  effusions  are  apt  to  be  embarassed. 
Supposing  one  minister,  here  and  there,  competent  to  the 
important  task  of  presenting  before  God  the  prayers  of  a 
whole  people,  in  a  manner  suitable  to  His  dignity  and  to 
their  complicated  wants;  yet  it  is  certain  that  all  are  not 
fitted  for  this  undertaking:  and  it  often  happens,  that 
they  who  are  least  fitted,  most  of  all  disdain  those  helps 
by  which  they  might  improve  their  faculty  in  that  way. 
But,  admitting  the  prayer  to  be  uniformly  good  and  ap- 
propriate, the  less  likely  will  it  be  to  vary  with  every  oc- 
casion. Our  w^ants  are  generally  at  all  times  the  same, 
and  it  is  not  necessary  to  adjust  our  forms  of  speech, 
when  addressed  to  the  Deity,  with  ceremonious  regard 
to  variety:   So  that,  it  will  be  found  universally  true, 


166  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

that  where  a  minister  is  found  competent  to  conduct  the 
devotions  of  his  people  with  propriety,  he  generally  ad- 
heres, without  any  substantial  alteration  to  one  prayer. 
He  and  his  congregation,  without  being  sensible  of  any 
disadvantage  from  it,  fall  into  the  habitual  use  of  form. 
The  only  difference  in  this  case,  and  that  of  ours  is, 
that  we  have  our  prayers  written  in  our  books,  and  can 
go  along  in  them  with  the  minister,  without  distraction 
of  mind,  while  they  have  theirs  in  their  memory,  but  are 
often  interrupted  by  an  occasional  deviation  from  the 
accustomed  form,  in  which  the  mind  is  liable  to  be  di- 
verted from  its  frame  of  prayer,  to  sit  in  judgment  on 
the  new  selection  of  phraseology. 

A  liturgy  was  offered  some  time  ago  to  the  public  by 
a  respectable  dissenting  minister  in  England,  from 
whose  prefatory  address  the  following  passages  are  se- 
lected: "In  our  present  mode  of  conducting  religious 
worship,  too  much  depends  on  the  minister:  on  this  ac- 
count it  is  to  be  feared,  that  some  are  apt  to  look  upon 
prayer  as  the  business  of  the  minister  only,  and  not  to 
consider  it,  at  least,  not  so  much  as  they  ought,  as  a 
duty  in  which  they  themselves  are  equally  concerned. 
It  appears  to  me  that  our  mode  of  worship  is  too  refined 
for  the  young  and  ignorant;  and  I  am  persuaded  that 
something  ought  to  be  done  to  render  our  public  ser- 
vices less  tiresome,  and  more  interesting  to  young  per- 
sons. Forms  of  devotion  would  give  a  solemnity  and 
dignity  to  our  public  v/orship,  and  a  stability  to  our  re- 
ligious societies,  in  which,  I  think,  they  are  deficient. 
Our  public  worship  is  too  uncertain  and  fluctuating:  it 
depends  on  the  frame  of  the  person's  mind  who  officiates, 
which  is  variable,  and  it  clkanges  when  ministers  are 
changed:  and  it  appears  to  me,  that  there  is  something 
more  solemn  and  venerable  in  public  liturgies,  where  re- 
sponses are  used,  and  where  all  the  people  are  evidently 
employed  in  the  worship  of  their  Maker." 

They  who  object  to  forms,  subject  themselves  to  their 
own  objection,  whenever  they  join  in  singing  their  own 
hymns.  These  hymns  are  generally  devotional,  and 
are  in  the  strain  of  prayer  or  praise.    They  are  as  much 


tItE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  l67 

a  form  of  prayer  as  if  they  were  composed  in  prose. 
And  if  the  worshipper  is  sincere  while  he  uses  them,  he 
prays,  and  prays  by  a  form,  he  does  the  very  thing  for 
which  he  condemns  others;  "unless  (says  Newton)  it 
can  be  proved,  that  the  fault  and  evil,  which  is  essential 
to  a  form  in  prose,  is  entirely  removed  if  the  substance 
of  the  obnoxious  form  be  expressed  in  metre  and  chime. 

Crito  freely  will  rehearse 
Forms  of  prayer  and  praise  in  verse : 
Why  should  Crito  then  suppose 
Forms  are  sinful  when  in  prose, 
Must  my  form  be  deemed  a  crime, 
Merely  for  the  want  of  rhyme  ?"* 

Calvin,  also,  is  known  to  have  recommended  "a  set 
form  and  method  of  public  service,"  to  be  established 
throughout  all  the  protestant  Churches.  "As  a  form  of 
prayer  and  ecclesiastical  rites,  he  says,  I  highly  ap- 
prove that  it  should  be  certain 5  from  which  it  may  not 
be  lawful  for  any  minister  to  depart,  as  well  in  consid- 
eration of  the  weakness  and  ignorance  of  some,  as  that 
it  may  more  plainly  appear,  how  our  Churches  agree 
among  themselves,  and  lastly,  that  a  stop  may  be  put  to 
the  p;iddiness  of  those  who  affect  novelties." 

One  other  great  advantage  belonging  to  a  uniform 
standard,  such  as  that  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
is  the  preservation  of  uniformity  in  doctrine.  It  forms 
an  impregnable  bulwark  against  false  and  unchristian 
principles.  It  would  seem  impossible  that  any  man 
could  regularly  use  the  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  be  either  a  Socinian,  Arian,  or  any  kind  of  Anti- 
christian,  supposing  him  to  be  an  honest  man.  The  ne- 
cessary and  frequent  recognition  of  true  orthodox  prin- 
ciples, to  which  the  prayer  book  subjects  all  who  adopt 
it,  would  be  utterly  inconsistent  with  erroneous  princi- 
ples, upon  the  supposition  of  candour  and  honesty. 
And  upon  the  supposition  of  a  case,  in  which  a  minister 

*  See  Newton's  apologia,  in  which  he  g-ives  at  length,  *«the 
reasons  which  induced  him  to  exercise  his  ministry,  as  at  clergy- 
man of  tlie  Episcopal  Church,  rather  than  among  the  dissenters, 
where  his  first  religious  connexions  were  formed." 


168  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

should  do  violence  to  these  sentiments,  and  dissolve  the 
solemn  obligations  of  his  ordination  vows,  the  people 
themselves  would  be  in  possession  of  a  measure,  by 
which  they  might  try  and  detect  so  palpable  a  fallacy. 
To  this  circumstance  is  it  owing,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  lukewarmness  and  defection  from  piety  into  which 
Episcopalians  may  sometimes  have  fallen,  they  have 
still  preserved  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  pure  and  un- 
corrupted.  In  those  places  where  her  sanctuaries  have 
been  made  desolate,  and  a  fruitful  land  has  become 
barren  for  the  wickedness  of  them  that  dwell  therein, 
even  there  the  voice  of  the  Church,  by  her  faithful  wit- 
ness, the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  has  cried  aloud  in 
the  wilderness,  saying,  "prepare  ye  the  way  of  the 
Lord.^'  Like  the  ark  of  the  covenant  it  has  preserved 
the  law.  In  the  hands  of  pious  matrons,  who,  like  the 
Vestal  virgins,  have  watched  the  sacred  fire,  it  has 
kindled  the  sparks,  and  revived  the  flame,  of  true  reli- 
gion. On  the  contrary,  it  is  matter  of  deep  lamenta- 
tion, amongst  the  members  of  the  various  denominations 
of  Christians  who  have  no  prescribed  forms  of  worship, 
that  a  growing  heresy  is  daily  creeping  in  upon  them. 
In  the  Eastern  States  Socinianism  prevails  to  an  alarm- 
ing degree,  and  it  has  been  suggested  by  one  of  the 
most  eminent  men  in  that  country,  a  minister  of  the 
sect  of  Congregationalists,  and  principal  of  a  distin- 
guished seminary  of  learning,  that  there  is  no  other 
remedy  against  the  evil,  than  the  adoption  of  a  public 
liturgy.  Similar  concessions  have  been  made  by  many 
distinguished  men  on  the  same  side,  in  other  parts  of  the 
United  States.  In  England,  the  Dissenters  have  had 
serious  thoughts  of  adopting  a  liturgy,  and  have  drawn 
up  and  proposed  a  directory  for  the  nonconformist 
Churches.* 

"Philosophers  did  not  for  a  considerable  period  dis- 
cover, that  even  the  most  regular  of  the  heavenly  bodies 

*  The  Methodist  conference  of  Manchester,  England,  in  the 
year  1815,  prescribed  that  "the  officiating  preacher  should  read 
the  service  of  the  established  church,  &c. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAN'UAL.  1  69 

moved  in  nearly  circular  orbits  round  a  common  centre. 
It  is  a  still  more  recent  discovery,  that  the  more  irreg- 
ular bodies  follow  something  of  the  same  lav/,  and  re- 
turn, after  a  prescribed  period,  to  the  point  v/hence  they 
set  out.  But  even  now  philosophers  do  not  seem  to 
have  recognized,  what,  nevertheless,  we  who  are  no  phi- 
losophers, venture  to  assert,  that  opinions  also  very  com- 
monly obey  a  like  law,  move  also  in  their  orbits,  and 
after  a  period  not  precisely  determined,  return  to  the 
very  point  whence  they  originally  diverged."  In  the 
changes  of  public  opinion  it^  would  not  therefore  be  a 
matter  of  surprise,  if  the  revolution  of  a  few  more 
years  would  bring  all  Christendom  to  the  same  point  in 
the  Heavens,  which  it  occupied  at  the  era  of  the  re- 
formation, the  grand  sabbath  and  jubilee  of  pure  reli- 
gion. Though  we  would  by  no  means  wish  to  disalfect 
any  denomination  to  their  own  modes,  yet  we  cannot 
help  being  sensible  of  the  advantages  we  possess  in  our 
own,  and  it  is  hoped  that  charity  sfill  regulates  our  feel- 
ings, when  we  cherish  with  fond  emotions  the  hope, 
ihough  it  be  faint,  that  the  time  may  come,  when  men, 
coming  to  the  unity  of  the  faith  in  this  particular,  shall 
unite  together  in  pouring  their  supplications  and  praise?; 
through  the  same  forms,  before  the  same  common  Fatuer 
and  God  of  all.  We  often  now  feel  the  ardour  of  our 
devotion  kindled  anew  by  the  reflection,  that  at  the  very 
period  when  we  are  praying  in  this  place,  millions  c>i 
others  are  offering  the  same  prayers,  at  the  same  time, 
in  various  and  distant  parts  of  the  world.  Though  fib- 
sent  in  body,  we  have  this  bond,  which  makes  us  pie- 
sent  with  ail  the  true  worshippers  of  the  Lord.*  But 
how  powerful  would  be  the  association  of  thought,  if  a!i 
mankind,  with  one  voice  ancl  one  heart,  were  enga^eO  at 
one  time,  in  offering  one  prayer  to  the  one  Thrcne  in 
Heaven!  Surely  HeaVen  would  be  opened,  ar 
•iessings  v/ould  descend  upon  earth. 

The  laurf'ulness  of  forms  of  prayer  is  easily  demon- 
strated from  the  fact,  that  God  himself  did  prescribe 
.15 


irO  1  HE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

them  on  several  occasions.*  When  David  brought  up 
the  ark  from  the  h<vuse  of  Obededom,  to  the  tent  which 
he  had  pitched  for  it  in  Jerusalem,  he  composed  a  form 
of  prayer  and  thanksgiving  for  the  occasion,  selected 
out  of  four  different  psalms,  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of 
Asaph  and  his  brethren  for  the  use  of  the  whole  congre- 
gation.! In  all  following  ages,  the  psalms  were  used  as 
forms  of  devotion:  our  Lord  him*elf  sanctioned  forms 
of  prayer  by  adopting  them  himselfjj  by  recommending 
a  form  to  his  disciples, §  and  by  his  attendance  on  the 
Jewish  Synagogue,  which  had  a  long  and  tedious  ser- 
vice. The  form  of  prayer  which  he  gave  to  his  disci- 
ples, according  to  the  testimonies  of  some  of  the  ear- 
liest and  most  eminent  fathers,  was  constantly  used  in 
the  Church,  from  the  very  time  of  the  Apostles. 1[  As 
for  the  objection,  that  we  do  not  read  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament, that  it  was  so  used,  it  is  of  no  weight  at  all>  for 
we  are  not  told  that  the  Apostles  ever  baptized  persons 
in  the  name  of  ih^  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost; 
but  as  they  were  commanded  to  do  it,  we  take  it  for 
granted  they  did  so,  though  in  so  short  a  history  as  that 
of  the  Apostles,  no  mention  of  the  fact  was  deemed  ne- 
cessary. 

If  we  come  down  to  the  times  subsequent  to  the  Apos- 
tles, we  shall  find  liturgies  composed  for  the  service  of 
the  different  ciiurches.  The  liturgies  of  St.  Peter,  St. 
Mark,  and  St.  James,  though  they  were  corrupted  in 

*  Numbers  iv.  23—26.     Deut.  xxi.  7,  8,  xxvi.  3,  5—10, 13,  15. 

Matt.  xxvi.  30.  .  ,  ,  ^      -.  ^        j 

f  Compare  1  Cbron.  xvi.  7.  36,  with  Psalms  cv.  1—15,  and 
xcvi.  1 — 13,  and  cxxxvi.  1,  and  cvi.  47,  48. 

4:  Matt,  xxvi,  30. 

§  Alatt.  vi.  19.  The  word  outw;  has  been  construed  by  some  as 
implying  only  t'liat  our  prayers  should  be,  after  thh  manner;  but 
in  other  places  it  shews  its  meanmg-  to  be  that  such  should  be 
our  prayer  in /om;  as  in  these  words  oww,  y,y ^uirrc^l,  thus  it  is 
M  ritten;  but  what  puts  it  beyond  cloubt  is  the  pai  allel  passage  m 
Luke  xi.  2,  where  our  Lord  says,  "When  ye  pray,  say? 

f  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Cyril.  Jerome,  Augustine,  Chrysostom, 
(.rcgory.—Sce  Bennett's  London  Cases,  and  Smieon  on  the 
Uturtcy- 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  171. 

later  ages,  are  certainly  of  high  antkiuity:  that  of  St. 
James  was  of  great  authority  in  the  clays  of  St.  Cyril, 
who  in  his  younger  years  wrote  a  toininect  upon  it. 
And  it  would  be  easy  to  trace  the  use  of  them  from  that 
time  even  to  the  present  day. 

Our  reformers  carefully  distinguished  between  what 
appeared  to  be  superstitious  and  superfluous,  and  what 
was  apostolical  and  scriptural;  and  therefore  retained 
many  of  the  prayers  which  the  Roman  Church  had  in 
use,  and  which,  as  Dr.JjiUrke  observes,  had  been  in  use 
in  the  early  ;!ges  of  C^istianity,  long  before  Pope  or 
popery  was  unknown  upon  earth.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  the  reformation,  the  most  lamentable  ignorance 
prevailed  throughout  the  land:  and  even  those  who 
from  their  office  ought  to  have  been  well  instructed  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  themselves  needed  to  be  taught 
the  first  principles  of  the  oracks  of  God.  If  then  the 
pious  asul  venerable  reformers  of  our  Church  had  not 
provided  a  suitable  form  of  prayer,  the  people  would 
still  in  many  thousands  of  places,  have  remained  in  ut- 
ter darkness;  but  by  the  diffusion  of  this  sacred  light 
throughout  the  land,  every  part  of  the  country  became 
in  a  good  measure  irradiated  with  scriptural  knowledge 
and  with  saving  truth.  The  few  who  were  enlightened, 
might  indeed  have  scattered  some  partial  rays  around 
them;  but  their  light  would  have  been  only  as  a  meteor 
that  passes  away,  and  leaves  no  permanent  effect. 
Moreover  if  their  zeal  and  piety  and  knowledge  had 
been  suffered  to  die  with  them,  we  should  have  in  vain 
sought  for  composition,  of  equal  excellence,  from  any 
set  of  governors  from  that  day  to  the  present  hour,  but 
by  conveying  to  posterity  the  impress  of  their  piety  in 
stated  forms  of  prayer,  they  have  in  them  transmitted  a 
measure  of  their  own  spirit,  which  like  Elijah's  mantle, 
has  descended  on  multitudes,  who  have  succeeded  them. 
It  is  not  possible  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  ben- 
efit which  we  at  this  day  derive  from  having  such  a  stan- 
dard of  piety  in  our  hands;  but  we  do  not  speak  too 
strongly  if  we  say,  thnt  the  most  enlightened  among  us, 
of  whatever  denomination  they  may  be,  owe  much  to 


ITxi  TJFtE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

existence  of  the  liturgy;  which  has  been  as  it  were,  the 
piilar  and  ground  of  the  truth  in  this  land,  and  has 
served  as  fuel  to  perpetuate  the  flame,  which  the  Lord 
himself  kindled,  at  the  time  of  the  reformation  upon 
our,  altars."* 

It  IS  objected  against  the  prayers  of  the  Church,  that, 
admitting  them  to  be  good,  they  are  too  long;  there  is 
too  much  appearance  of  form  and  ceremony  in  the  fre- 
quent necessity  of  rising  up  and  sitting  down;  and  be- 
sides this,  that  they  do  not  a\^ken  the  same  animated 
and  devotional  feelings  that  are  found  under  extempora- 
neous prayers. 

With  regard  to  the  length  of  the  service,  there  is  no 
just  cause  of  complaint,  unless  there  be  superfluity  or 
repetition.  But  this  charge  has  not  been  urged.  It  is 
true,  that  to  a  mind  not  well  disposed  to  prayer,  the 
prayers  of  the  church,  or  any  other  prayers,  may  become 
irksome,  and  such  persons  might  find  less  ennui  and  fa- 
tigue in  listening  to  a  novel  prayer,  and  to  a  sermon» 
It  is  much  more  easy  to  do  this  than  to  bring  the  mind 
to  that  solemnity  and  engagedness,  which  are  necessary 
tor  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  praise  and 
prayer.  That  restless  principle  of  curiosity,  ever  on 
the  wmg  to  hear  or  see  something  new,  and  the  imagina- 
tion and  passions,  those  powerful  masters  of  the  human 
mind,  too  generally  lead  men  to  seek  for  gratification, 
amusement,  and  novelty,  rather  than  profit. — From  all 
these  causes  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  Christians  will 
lay  an  undue  stress  upon  public  preaching,  and  under- 
value or  neglect  the  public  prayers.  Public  preaching 
is  indeed  generally  the  instrument  which  God  applies 
to  the  awakening  and  conversion  of  sinners,  and  of 
settling  his  people  in  their  most  holy-faith. 

But  prayer  and  praise  are  the  great  objects  at  which 
preaching  aims.  When  men  are  brought  to  that  contri- 
tion of  heart,  that  humility  and  reverence,  that  lively 
sense  of  the  divine  goodness,  that  earnest  desire  for  the 
tavour  of  God,  in  which  consist  the  dispositions  essen- 

*  Simeon  on  the  liturgy. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL 


irs 


tial  to  prayer,  one  of  the  great  objects  of  preaching  is 
answered. 

Instead  of  finding  fault  with  the  length  of  the  prayers, 
it  would  be  well  to  inquire  if  the  fault  does  not  he  in 
our  own  hearts.  For  every  one  acknowledges,  that  the 
prayers  are  good,  and  when  we  would  omit  any  part,  we 
are'at  a  loss  on  account  of  the  excellence  of  the  whole, 
and  the  peculiar  relation  of  the  several  parts,  to  know 
which  to  select  for  that  purpose.  And  besides  it  will 
be  found  in  general,  that  the  time  occupied  in  prayer  and 
praise  under  these  forms,  is  not  greater  than  that  devoted 
to  these  objects  in  other  places  of  public  worship.        * 

The  apparent  excess  of  ceremony,  in  rising  up  and 
sitting  down  so  frequently  in  the  course  ol  divine  ser- 
vice, which  constitutes  another  objection,  furnishes  in 
our  estimation  an  argument  in  favour  of  the  practice. 
By  giving  an  opportunity  of  variety  in  the  posture,  the 
fatigue  which  attends  upon  one  tixed  attitude  is  consid- 
erably lessened.  Besides  there  is  so  close  an  union  be- 
tween our  souls  and  bodies,  that  when  one  is  seriously 
affected,  the  other  cannot  remain  unconcerned.  When 
our  mind  is  filled  with  exalted  ideas  of  God's  wonderful 
perfections,  his  majesty,  his  power,  his  goodness  and 
loving  kindness  towards  us,  it  is  natural  that  we  should 
display  these  sentiments  by  visible  demonstrations.  It 
is  indeed  essential  to  public  worship,  as  an  homage  to 
the  Almighty,  that  we  make  tne  dispositions  of  our  souls 
known  by  public  tokens  of  reverence  p.nd  honour,  that, 
together  with  our  fellow  Christians,  we  may  with  oge 
mind  and  one  voice,  as  a  congregation,  glorify  God,  and 
excite  one  another  to  praise  and  adore  him. 

Thus  the  different  parts  which  the  people  are  ca!lec\ 
upon  to  bear  in  the  service,  and  the  difterent  postures 
recommended  will  be  found  to  be  admirably  adapted  to 
the  sentiments  and  feelings  which  they  are  designed  to 
inspire.  When  we  confess  our  sins,  we  kneel  belbre  the 
Lord  our  maker;*  when  we  praise  him,  as  in  the  an- 

*  Psalm  xcv.  6. 
15* 


5^4  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

themsjthe  psalms  and  hymns,  we  rise  up;  and  when  we 
listen  to  his  word,  we  sit  down.  With  wise  adaptation 
to  oiir  nature,  the  service  is  rendered  thus  various, 
"that  the  mind  of  desultory  man,  studious  of  change, 
may  be  indulged."  This  diversity  of  posture,  and  the 
responses  of  the  people  give  such  variety  to  the  service, 
and  are  so  adapted  to  the  infirmities  of  human  nature, 
and  to  the  purposes  they  were  intended  to  promote,  that 
if  it  M'ere  impartially  considered,  it  seems  to  us  that  the 
propriety  ,  the  beauty,  and  utility  of  the  practice  would 
manifestly  appear. 

^It   is    perhaps   more  difficult  to  rectify  the  notions 
*which  are  frequently  entertained  of  spiritual  edification. 
Many,    if    their    imaginations   are   pleased,   and   their 
spirits  elevated,  are  apt  to  think,  that  they  have  been 
greatly  edified:  and  this  error  is  at  the  root  of  that  pre- 
ference which  they  give  to  extempore  prayer,  and  the 
indifference  which  they  manifest  towards  the  prayers  of 
the  church.     But  real  edification  consists  in  humility  of 
mind,  and  in  being  led  to  a  more  holy  and  consistent 
walk  with  God:  and  one  atom  of  such  a  spirit  is  more 
valuable  than  all  the  animal  fervour  that  ever  was  ex- 
cited.    High  excitements  in  the  moral  system,  like  high 
stimulants  in  the  bodily,  are  followed  by  a  correspondent 
exhaustion,  and  when  repeated,  tend  to  wear  out  the  ex- 
citability and  energy  of  life.     In  accommodation  to  this 
qualitv  of  our  nature,  our  church   never  wishes  to  raise 
the   pulse  too  high  by   raptures  and  animal   impulses. 
She  feeds  us  with  solid  and  wholesome  food,  endeavour- 
ing to  adapt  a  portion  to  each  in  due   season,   not  with 
ii\e  view  of  exhilirating   the  spirits  beyond  their   due 
standard,  but  of  keeping  up  that  equable  flow  of  health 
and  spirits,  which  is  always  most  permanent,  when  con- 
f')rmable  to  the  reason  and  nature  of  things.     It  is  with 
solid  truths,  and   not  with  Jluent  words,  that  we  are  to 
be  impressed;  and  if  we  desire  from  our  hearts  the  things 
which  we  pray  for  in  our  public  forms,  we  need  neves- 
regret,  that  our  fancy  was  not  gratified,  or  our  animal 
spirits  raised  by  the  delusive  charms  of  novelty.     Only 
let  a  person  be  in  a  devout  frame,  and  he  will  be  far 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  175 

more  likely  to  have  his  soul  elevated  to  Heaven  by  the 
liturgy  of  the  Church,  than  he  would  by  the  generality 
of  prayers,  which  he  would  hear  in  other  places  of  wor- 
ship; and  if  any  one  complain  that  he  cannot  enter  into 
the  spirit  of  them,  let  him  only  examine  his  frame  of 
mind  when  engaged  in  extemporaneous  prayers  and  he 
will  find  that  his  formality  is  not  confined  to  the  service 
of  the  church,  but  is  the  sad  fruit  and  consequence  of 
his  own  weakness  and  corruption. 

Every  thing  in  this  composition  is  truly  grand,  and 
excellently  adapted  to  its  subject.  We  are  there  tauglit, 
that  all  in  man  is  misery,  and  that  all  in  God  is  mercy. 
Examine  but  the  suppliant  language  of  the  litany,  and 
say  if  ever  more  earnest,  humble  petitions  were  put  into 
the  mouths  of  miserable  sinners:  petitions  which,  if 
offered  up  with  the  same  spirit  with  which  they  were 
composed,  would,  as  a  certain  writer  strongly  expresses 
it,  almost  force  open  the  gates  of  Heaven.  With  what 
universal  charity,  and  tenderness  of  affection,  are  we 
taught  to  present  all  our  fellow  creatures  to  the  Father 
of  the  Universe;  that  he  would  "be  graciously  pleased 
to  succour,  help  and  comfort  all  who  are  in  danger,  ne- 
cessity and  tribulation;*'  "that  he  would  defend  and 
provide  for  the  fatherless  children  and  widows,  and  all 
who  are  desolate  and  oppressed;"  in  a  word,  **that  he 
would  have  mercy  upon  all  men." 

The  practice  of  reading  the  scriptures  in  public  to  the 
people,  must  always  be  attended  with  salutary  conse- 
quences. By  the  course  prescribed  in  the  calendar, 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  Bible,  and  allthat  is  important, 
is  read  through  in  the  year.  So  that  they  who  are  not 
able  to  read  themselves,  may,  by  a  regular  attendance  at 
Church,  get  a  competent  knowledge  of  the  contents  of 
the  Bible. 

From  our  very  birth  to  the  grave,  the  Church  omits 
nothing  that  can  tend  to  the  edification  of  her  members. 
At  our  first  introduction  into  her  bosom,  with  what  so- 
lemnity are  we  dedicated  to  God  in  our  baptismal  sec- 
vice. ^  What  pledges  does  she  require  of  our  sponsors, 
that  we  shall  be  brought  up  in  the  true  faith,  and  in  the 


176  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

Fear  of  God?  No  sooner  are  we  capable  of  receiving 
instruction,  than  she  provides  for  us,  and  expressly 
requires  that  we  be  well  instructed  in  a  catechism,  so 
short  that  it  burthens  the  memory  of  none,  and  so  com- 
prehensive that  it  contains  all  that  is  necessary  for  our 
information  at  that  early  period  of  life.  When  once  we 
are  taught  by  that  to  know  the  nature  and  extent  of  our 
baptismal  vows,  the  Church  calls  upon  us  to  renew,  in 
our  own  persons,  the  vows  that  were  formerly  made  for 
us  in  our  name;  and  in  a  service  especially  prepared  for 
that  purpose,  leads  us  to  consecrate  ourselves  to  God, 
Not  content  with  having  thus  initiated,  instructed  and 
confirmed  her  members  in  the  relig;ion  of  Christ,  she 
embraces  every  opportunity  of  instilling  into  their  minds 
the  knowledge  and  love  of  his  ways.  Are  mercies  and 
deliverances  vouchsafed  to  any,  especially  that  great 
mercy  of  preservation  in  the  pangs  and  perils  of  child- 
birth? the  Church  appoints  a  public  acknowledgment  to 
be  made  to  Almighty  God  in  the  presence  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  provides  a  suitable  service  to  that  end. 
In  like  manner,  for  every  public  mercy,  or  in  any  time 
of  public  calamity,  she  calls  upon  us  to  acknowledge 
him  who  can  kill  and  make  alive.  In  time  of  sickness 
there  is  also  very  particular  provision  made  for  our  in- 
struction and  consolation:  viid  even  after  death,  when 
she  can  no  more  benefit  the  r  :ceased,  she  labours  to  pro- 
mote the  benefit  of  her  survi-  in^  members  by  a  service 
the  most  solemn  and  impressive  that  ever  was  formed. 
Thus  attentive  is  she,  to  supply  in  every  thing,  as  far 
as  human  endeavours  can  a\ail,  our  spiritual  wants: 
Decent  in  her  forms,  but  not  »  persmious;  strong  in  her 
expressions,  but  not  erroneous;  in  short,  in  all  things 
spiritual  and  pure;  full  and  suitable;  moderate  and 
candid. 

Could  we  enter  heartily  into  this  service,  and  make, 
with  propriety,  the  responses  requirfid,  it  would  soon 
become  animating  and  delightfal.  But  here  is  the  evil 
under  which  we  labour.  Many  wno  profess  to  admire 
this  form  of  worship  either  do  not  joiu  in  the  responses 
at  all,  or  less  do  it  in  so  cold  and  lukewarm  a  manner, 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  177 

as  not  only  to  betray  the  indifference  of  the  v/orshipper, 
but  to  impart  a  seeming  character  of  lukewarmness  to 
the  service  itself.  In  this  way  it  has  fallen  into  disre- 
pute. As  a  remedy  against  this  evil,  and  to  excite  you 
to  a  more  cordial  performance  of  the  service,  **in  the 
various  parts  assigned  to  you,  directions  for  a  devout 
and  decent  attendance  upon  public  worship,"  are  sub- 
joined to  this  work.  May  we  not  hope  that  the  members 
of  the  Church  will  bear  their  part  in  her  worship,  that 
they  will  rid  themselves  of  a  false  shame,  and  lift  up  (heir 
hearts  and  voices  in  the  congregation?  In  singing,  and 
in  the  responses,  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  each  one  to 
bear  his  part.  To  be  sitting  down,  either  during  the 
prayers,  or  while  the  church  is  sending  up  her  chorus  of 
praise,  or  to  be  gazing  about  with  indifference,  is  as 
much  as  to  say,  that  the  person  has  no  interest  in,  or 
desire  for,  the  blessings  which  are  conveyed  through  the 
channel  of  public  worship.  With  regard  to  other  de- 
nominations who  attend  our  worship,  and  who  prefer 
standing  in  prayer,  to  kneeling,  and  sitting  in  singing, 
to  standing,  and  who  do  not  feel  it  a  duty  to  conform  to 
our  mode,  these  remarks  of  course  do  not  apply.  But 
it  certainly  is  expected  of  our  own  members,  that  they 
show  some  respect  for  their  own  forms;  that  they  should 
conform  to  the  venerable  usages  of  their  forefathers,  and 
that  they  should  not  countenance  by  their  example  the 
neglect  of  others.  "O  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord 
for  his  goodness,  and  for  his  wonderful  works  to  the 
children  of  men." 

Let  us  do  better  in  future.  Like  David,  let  us  say, 
"I  will  praise  the  Lord  with  my  whole  heart  in  the  as- 
sembly of  the  upright,  and  in  the  congregation."  What 
spectacle  can  be  more  august  and  affecting  tlian  an  as- 
semblage of  people,  creatures  of  the  same  Almighty 
Lord,  children  of  the  same  gracious  parent,  offering  to 
him  in  his  temple,  the  fervent  homage  of  adoration  and 
praise?  The  mind  of  devotion  seems  to  be  exalted  into 
the  immediate  presence  of  the  God  of  ages,  to  join  "with 
angels,  and  archangels,  and  all  the  company  of  Heaven 
to  laud  and  magnify  his  glorious  name."    Entering  into 


178  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

the  spirit  of  our  inimitable  liturgy,  the  devout  worship 
per  exclaims  with  Jacob,    "Surely  God  is  in  this  place 
and  I  knew  it  not;  this  is  none  other  but  the  house  ot 
God,  this  is  the  g;ate  of  Heaven." 

But  the  more  excellent  any  thing  is,  the  more  liable 
is  it  to  abuse.  And  too  many,  contenting  themselves 
with  pronouncing  eulogiums  on  the  liturgy,  and  resting 
in  the  excellence  of  the  form,  neglect  to  cultivate  the 
power,  of  godliness.  "They  have  well  said,  all  that 
they  have  spoken.  O  that  there  were  such  an  heart  in 
them."  *'It  is  one  thing  to  repeat  the  words,  and  ano- 
ther to  feel  them.  Let  us  bring  ourselves  then  to  this 
test^  and  never  imagine  that  we  are  in  a  Christian  state, 
till  we  can  appeal  to  God,  that  the  prayers  we  utter  are 
the  very  language  of  our  hearts.  Let  us  inquire  whether 
from  our  inmost  souls  we  lament  the  numberless  trans- 
gressions of  our  lives,  and  the  unsearchable  depravity 
of  our  hearts?  When  we  cry  to  God  for  mercy  as  mise- 
rable offenders,  do  we  abhor  ourselves  for  our  guilt,  and 
tremble  for  our  danger?  Do  we  indeed  feel  that  we 
deserve  the  wrath  of  God?  Is  the  consciousness  of  this 
truth  wrought  into  us  and  become  the  habit  of  our  minds, 
so  that  we  can  find  no  peace  but  in  crying  unto  God, 
and  pleading  with  him  the  merits  of  his  dear  Son?  Is 
Christ  in  this  view,  precious  to  our  souls?  Is  he  our 
•wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification  and  redemption? 
Having  no  good  thing  within  us,  do  we  make  him  our 
all  in  all?  Are  we  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  our  minds? 
Do  we  hate  sin,  not  merely  as  it  is  destructive,  but  as  it 
is  defiling  to  the  soul?  Do  we  account  the  service  of 
God  to  be  perfect  freedom,  and  do  we,  in  truth  and  in 
our  hearts,  praise  God,  when  we  call  upon  "'all  that  is 
within  us  to  praise  his  holy  name?"  If  this  be  not  the 
state  of  our  souls,  we  are  in  an  awful  condition  indeed; 
our  very  best  services  have  been  nothing  but  a  solemn 
mockeryj  in  our  prayers  we  have  insulted  rather  than, 
worshiped,  the  majesty  of  Heaven;  we  have  come  before 
our  God  with  a  lie  in  our  right  hand;  0  that  it  might 
please  God  to  discover  to  us  the  heinousness  of  our  guilt: 
and  that  we  might  all  be  **pricked  to  the  heart,"  ere  it 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL,  1T9 

be  too  late!  Let  us  the  very  next  time  we  attempt  to  use 
these  prayers,  take  notice  of  the  frame  of  our  minds:  let 
us  mark  the  awful  incongruity  between  our  public  pro- 
fessions and  our  actual  experience,  and  let  a  sense  of 
our  hypocrisy  lead  us  to  repentance. — Thus  shall  the 
returning  seasons  of  worship  be  attended  with  a  double 
advantage  to  our  souls:  in  praying  for  what  we  ought  to 
seek,  we  shall  be  stirred  up  to  seek  it  in  good  earnest: 
and  through  the  tender  mercy  of  our  God  we  shall  attain 
the  experience  of  those  things  which  too  many  of  us,  it  is 
to  be  feared,  have  hitherto  hypocritically  asked,  and  ig- 
norantly  condemned."* 


,^n  Exhortation  to  the  members  of  the  Church  to  adorn 
their  profession  by  a  proper  temper  and  conduct. 

It  is  by  the  conduct  of  men,  and  not  by  their  profes- 
sion, that  their  sincerity  and  integrity  can  be  tested. 
"Learn  of  me,"  said  our  Saviour,  **for  I  am  meek  and 
lowly  of  heart."  Of  all  the  graces,  which  he,  who  was 
perfection  itself,  possessed,  meekness  and  lowliness  are 
those,  for  which  he  proposes  himself  more  peculiarly 
as  the  exemplar  and  pattern  of  his  followers.  Irascible 
tempers,  peevish  and  morose  dispositions,  discontented 
minds  and  slanderous  tongues,  deform  the  character  of 
any  one;  but  when  set  in  the  same  case  with  the  fair 
pearl  of  religious  profession,  they  exhibit  a  frightful 
caricature.  The  wit  and  ridicule  of  infidels  would  have 
done  but  little  harm  to  the  Church  of  God,  had  not  the 
irrejigion  of  professing  Christians  famished  them  wea- 
pons already  sharpened  to  their  hands. — These  are  the 
darts  that  have  made  Zion  to  bleed,  and  languish,  and 
mourn.  "What  are  those  wounds  in  thine  hands? 
Those  with  which  I  was  wounded  in  the  house  of  my 
friends,  "t 

*  Simeon  on  the  liturg-y.  fEzek.  xiii.  6, 


180  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

They  who  know  nothing  of  the  truth  and  excellence 
of  religion  by  their  own  experience,  very  naturally 
judge  of  it  by  its  influence  upon  others;  and  when  they 
see  those  who  profess  it  living  as  other  men  do,  and  none 
the  better  or  happier  for  it  they- do  not  fail  to  improve 
so  palpable  an  advantage  against  us,  and  conclude  that 
we  do  not  believe  our  doctrines,  and,  therefore  do  not 
deserve  belief;  and  that  because  we  do  not  practise  our 
precepts,  therefore  they  cannot  be  practised.  And  thus 
they  become  confirmed  in  infidelity  and  hardened  in 
crime.  There  can  be  no  propriety,  it  is  true,  in  such 
conclusions  as  these.  For,  whatever  abuses  have  been 
made  of  the  Christian  religion,  the  candid  must  admit, 
that  its  direct  tendency  is  to  promote  the  practice  of 
every  virtue,  to  alleviate  every  sorrow,  and  to  improve 
in  every  respect  the  moral  conduct  of  mankind.  The 
obligations  to  believe  and  practise  it,  cannot  be  lessened 
by  the  malconduct  of  hypocrites.  They  are  founded  up- 
on the  unchangeable  nature  of  things,  upon  that  relation 
in  which  man  stands  to  his  Creator,  and  which  binds 
him  to  render  the  homage  of  his  love  and  obedience. 
But  as  the  irregularities  of  professors  do  become  the 
pretexts  for  its  neglect,  and  do  have  a  natural  tendency 
to  loosen  the  bonds  of  duty  upon  others,  they  thereby 
render  themselves  accessary  to  their  sins,  and  partakers 
of  their  guilt.  Tliis  is  an  awful  thought.  Our  account 
will  be  heavy  enough  of  itself,  without  being  swelled  by 
the  transgressions  of  others.  And  what  makes  the  re- 
flection still  more  dreadful  is,  that  this  guilt  steals  upon 
us  when  we  are  asleep,  and  is  loading  our  account,  long 
after  we  are  laid  in  the  grave.  Every  person  has  his 
influence  in  his  respective  orbit,  and  is  liable  for  the 
quality  of  that  influence,  and  the  power  of  attraction 
which  he  imparts.  And  as  the  guilt  of  all  who  lend  a 
baneful  influence  to  society,  is  great  in  all  cases,  so  is  it 
increased  to  those  wjjo  ^11  a  larger  sphere.  They  re- 
semble that  great  star,  which  fell,  and  drew  after  it  two 
thirds  of  the  host  of  heaven. 

If  we  hope  then  to  avoid  this  guilt;  if  we  hope  to  ob- 
tain the  end  of  our  profession,  even  the  salvation  of  our 


THE   EPISCOPAL  3tANtJAL. 


181 


souls;  if  we  desire  the  favour  and  peace  of  God  on  earth 
and  in  heaven;  if  we  hope  to  escape  the  damnation  of 
hell,  let  us  labour  to  walk  worthy  of  our  vocation, 
adorning  our  profession  by  an  upright  walk  and  a  chaste 
conversation.  Let  our  li2;ht  so  shine  before  men  that 
they  seeing  our  good  works  may  glorify  our  Father 
which  is  in  heaven. 

If  all  who  named  the  name  cf  Christ  would  depart 
from  iniquity,  and  become  indeed  a  peculiar  people, 
zealous  of  good  works,  our  Ziim  would  soon  present  a 
glorious  aspect.  The  mouths  of  gainsayers  would  be 
stopped;  vice  and  immorality  would  hide  their  faces 
ashamed,  and  infidelity  fall  like  Dagon  before  the  ark. 
Many  would  come  and  cast  in  their  lots  with  us,  saying 
*'we  will  go  with  you,  for  we  have  heard  that  God  is 
with  you."  God  would  delight  ro  dwell  with  us;  we 
should  be  his  people  and  he  would  be  our  God.  "Pray" 
then  "for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem:  they  shall  prosper 
that  love  thee.  Peace  Ue  within  thy  walls  and  pros- 
perity within  thy  palaces  For  my  brethren  and  com- 
panions' sakes,  I  will  now  say,  peace  be  within  thee. 
Because  of  tlie  house  of  the  Lord  our  God,  I  will  seek 
to  do  thee  good."* 


Concerning  family  religion.'^ 

The  very  learned  and  pious  Bishop  Pearson  took  occa- 
sion very  often,  and  publici^ly,  to  bless  God,  that  he  was 
born  and  bred  in  a  ta^.ily  in  which  God  was  worshipped 
daily.  And  certainly,  it  is  a  duty  which  entails  very 
many  blessings  on  prosperity;  for  which  reason,  a  Pastor 
should  labour  wita  all  his  might  to  introduce  it  into  every 
family  under  his  charge;  at  least  he  should  give  neither 
himself  nor  his  people  any  rest,  till  he  has  done  all  that 

*Psalm  cxxii.   '^ — 9. 

jTaken  principuliy  from  Bishop  Wilson. 
1^ 


182  T«E  EPISCOPAL  81ANVAL* 

lies  in  his  power  to  effect  so  good  a  work:  which  if  he 
does  not  effect,  this  very  intimation  will  rise  up  in 
judgment  against  hira. 

And  in  truth  this  duty  is  so  reasonable  and  advanta- 
geous, that  a  man  who  will  but  set  about  it  in  good 
earnest  will  find  people  less  backward  than  he  would 
imagine. 

To  acknowledge  God  to  be  the  giver  of  all  good  gifts; 
to  put  a  man's  self,  his  wife,  his  children,  his  servants, 
and  all  that  belongs  to  him  under  God's  protection;  to 
ask  from  him  as  from  a  father,  whatever  we  want,  and 
to  thank  him  for  the  favours  we  have  received;  these  are 
duties  so  obvious  that  the  reason  of  mankind  concurs  with 
them  as  soon  as  they  are  proposed. 

To  begin  and  end  every  day  with  God,  will  be  the 
likeliest  way  to  make  servants  faithful,  children  dutiful, 
wives  obedient,  and  husbands  sober,  loving  and  careful; 
every  one  acting  as  in  the  sight  of  God. 

This  will  be  a  check  upo'.  every  one  of  the  family, 
and  will  be  a  means  of  p:  eventing  much  wickedness,  at 
least  people  with  sin  and  remorse,  (which  is  far  better 
than  with  a  seared  conscience)  when  every  one  knows 
he  must  go  upon  his  knees  before  he  sleeps. 

This  is  the  way  to  entail  piety  upon  the  generations 
to  come.  Children  who  have  from  their  infancy  been  ac- 
customed to  family  prayer,  coming  to  have  families  of 
their  own,  cannot  be  easy  till  they  fall  into  the  same 
pious  habit. 

Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when 
he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it;  nor  perhaps  his 
children  after  him  for  n»any  gererations. 

But  if  there  are  persons  upon  ^\hom  these  motives 
make  no  impression,  let  them  know  the  evil  conse- 
quences of  ne<ileciing  this  duty.  "The  curse  of  the 
Lord  is  in  the  house  of  the  wicked.*'  "Pour  out  thy 
fury  (that  is  God  will  do  so)  upon  the  families  that  call 
not  upnn  his  name."  Add  to  this,  that  ignorance,  pro- 
faneness,  and  a  curse,  must  of  necessity  be  in  that  fam- 
ily where  God  is  not  owned;  where,  as  one  observes,  not 
a  creature  but  is  taken  care  of,  not  even  the  swine  but 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  183 

are  served  twice  a  day,  and  God  only  is  forgotten.  •  I 
say,  he  must  be  worse  than  a  heathen  whom  these  con- 
siderations do  not  influence.  The  heathens  had  their 
altars  and  th'^^ir  hou^eiiold  Gods.  They  worshipped 
after  their  manner;  and  their  lives  ought  to  pu*  I  hris- 
tians  to  shame.  What  account  will  that  parent  and 
master  give,  who  is  confronted  in  the  -ay  of  judgsnent 
by  his  children  and  domestics,  whose  souls  he  neglected, 
and  who  now  charge  him  as  che  author  of  their  damna- 
tion?    • 

Most  parents  are  concerned  for  their  children's  pre- 
sent welfare,  and  too  often  renounce  a  good  conscience 
rather  than  not  provide  for  them:  whilst  few  are  careful 
to  give  them  such  instruction  and  examples  as,  bv  the 
grace  of  God,  may  secure  them  an  eternal  inheritanc;. 

They  require,  therefore,  to  be  often  put  in  mind  of 
their  duty  in  this  particular,  that  they  may  not  have  the 
torment  of  seeing  their  children  ruined  forever  by  their 
negligence. 

It  is  a  strange  stupidity,  that  parents  are  so  concern- 
ed to  have  their  c'niidren  dedicated  to  God  in  baptism 
as  they  are,  and  yet  utterly  unconcerned  how  they  be- 
have themselves  afterwards. 

The  least  that  parents  can  do,  is,  to  instruct  their 
children  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion;  to 
pray  for  them  daily,  and  to  see  that  they  pray  daily  for 
themselves;  to  possess  their  minds  with  a  love  of  good- 
ness, and  with  an  abhorrence  of  every  thing  that  is 
wicked;  and  to  take  care  that  their  natural  corruption 
be  not  increased  by  evil  examples. 

It  is  a  sad  tiling  to  see  children  under  the  very  eye  of 
their  parents,  and  too  often  by  their  example-,'getting 
habits  of  vanity,  idleness,  pride,  intemperance,  swear- 
ing, lying,  pilfering,  talebeanng,  uncieanness,  and  many 
other  sins  which  might  be  prevented  by  a  Christian  ed- 
ucation. 

Parents  therefore  should  be  made  sensible  of  their 
great  guilt,  in  suftering  their  children  to  take  evil  ways. 
They  should  be  often  told  that  human  nature  being  ex- 
tremely corrupt,  we  need  not  be  taught,  and  be  at  pains 


184-  THE     EPISC01PAL  lfA&~[fAL. 

to  go  to  hell;  we  shall  go  thither  of  course,  if  we  do  nat 
make  rfsistance,  and  are  not  restrained  by  the  grace  of 
God,  and  our  own  care  atid  endeavour. 

A  parent,  who  has  any  conscience  of  duty,  will  not 
suffer  the  least  sin  to  go  unreproved  or  without  due  cor- 
rection; but  then  he  should  '^not  provoke  his  children 
to  wrath,"  by  an  undue  severity;  lest  they  be  discour- 
aged and  thereby  their  childien'b  love,  both  for  religion 
and  for  themselves,  be  lessened.  Parents  cannot  begin 
too  soon  to  impress  t'leir  children  with  the  sentiment 
that  every  fault  they  commit,  is  committed  against  God. 
This  will  lead  them  at  once  t(j  a  lesr  of  offending  i/m, 
and  afford  the  best  security  for  their  obedience. 

Parents  cannot  be  too  careful  when  thev  are  about  to 
dispose  of  their  children  in  marriage".  How  cruel  it  is 
to  sacrifice  their  children's  ease  and  welfare  to  worldly 
considerations,  and  little  conveniences  of  their  own. 
It  is  seldom  that  parents  or  children  pray  for  God's  di- 
rection and  blessing  upon  an  undertaking  which  is  to 
last  as  long  as  life,  but  they  run  headlong,  as  humour  or 
passion,  or  worldly  interest,  le.id  then);  which  is  the 
true  occasion  of  s.o  many  indiscreet  choices,  and  unfor- 
tunate marriages  VV  hen  parents  are  providing  for  their 
children,  let  this  consideraiion  be  always  present  with 
them,  both  for  their  own  and  children's  sake; — **Better 
is  a  little  with  righteousness,  timngreat  revenues  without 
right.^'*  V>  hen  a  curse  goes  alon^  with  a  portion,  it  i& 
often  the  ruin  of  the  whole  family.  These  were  the  re- 
markable uords  ol  Judge  llale  to  his  children;  "I  leave 
you  but  iittle,  but  it  will  wear  like  iron." 

Very  necessary  also  is  the  admonition  that  parents 
should  not  squander  away  the  inheritance  which  wa» 
left  then;  by  their  foretalhers,  and  lelt  them  in  trust 
only  for  those  who  should  come  after  them;  that  they 
should  not  deprive  their  children  of  their  right,  exposing 
them  thereby  to  hardships,  lo  temptations,  and  to  the 
necessity  ot  cursing  their  memory.  These  considera- 
tions should  make  the  hearts  of  such  to  ache,  and  force 

*  Proverbs  xvi.  8. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  185 

them  to  put  an  end  to  that  idleness  and  intemperance, 
which  are  the  occasions  of  so  much  sin  and  mischief. 

In  all  these  duties  it  is  needful  to  obtain  God's  grace 
and  blessing:  and  to  do  this  we  must  ask  for  them  in 
prayer.     Heads  of  families   have  an   awful  account  to 
give  in  the  day  of  judgment.     They  ought  therefore  to 
be  vigilant  and  active.     "In  the  morning  sow  thy  seed, 
and  in  the  evening  withhold  not  thy  hand."     Never  en- 
ter upon   the   business  of  the  day  without   assembling 
your  family  in  prayer,  and  imploring  his  blessing.  Never 
suffer  them  to  go  to  bed  without  offering  up  with  Ihem 
your  thanksgivings  and  prayers:  for  many  have  gone  to 
their  bed,  and  found  it  the  bed  of  death.     Read  always 
some  portion   of   Scripture,  and  when  practicable,  ex- 
plain it  to  them.     When  you    are  providentially  pre- 
vented   from    going    to    public    worship    on    Sundays, 
it  will    be   highly   useful   to  go   through  some    of  the 
morning  service,  and  to  read  them  a  plain  practical  ser- 
mon.*    On  every   Sunday  evening,  there  being  usually 
no  service  in   our  churches,  a  good  opportunity  offers 
itself  for  these  exercises.     Think  not  the  time  and  la- 
bour lost  which  you  devote  to  these  duties.     The  time 
how  short,  compared  with   that  which  we  give  to  the 
world;  the  labour  how  little,  compared  to  the  object  of 
training  immortal  souls  for  Heaven!     O  let  us   be  dili- 
gent and  unwearied  in  so  great  and  good  a  cause.    **Let 
others  do  as  they  will,  but  let  us  determine,  that  we  and 
our  house  will  serve  the  Lord."     Then  shall  God  dwell 
in  our  families.     We  shall  re>ide  in   safety  under  the 
shadow  of  his  wings:   We  shall  lie  down  on  our  beds  in 
peace,  and  not  fear  to  meet  our   parting  hour.     This 
hour   is  at   hand.     Our  life   is  ebbing  apace,  and    the 
shadows  of  that  long  night  are  spreading  around  us.  Al- 
most every  year's  review  of  our  domestic  circle  tells  us 
that  this  is  not  our  home,  and  reminds  us  that  death  shall 
come  to  call  us  hence.     But  blessed  be  God,  though  we 
live  but  a  short  space,  and  that  thick  set  with  heavy 

*  Family  Sermons  selected  from  the   Christian  Observer,  or 
some  such  plain  discourses. 
16* 


i86  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

troubles  and  sore  afflictions;  though  the  day  of  human 
life  is  doomed  to  set  in  a  night  of  dreary  darkness; 
though  year  after  year  we  see  bv  sudden  blast,  or  slow 
decline,  our  social  comforts  drop  away;  though  we  must 
resign  our  own  bodies  to  the  tomb,  which  is  open  to  re- 
ceive all  mankind;  yet  in  the  midst  of  judgment  God  re- 
members mercy.  Even  in  this  dark  scene  there  arises 
light  to  the  upright.  God  enlarges  our  view  beyond  these 
territories  of  wild  disorder,  and  sSiews  us  our  friends  al- 
ready landed  on  the  farther  shore.  We  see  the  man- 
sions he  has  prepared,  the  psalms  of  victory,  the  crown 
of  glory;  we  hear  the  voice  of  the  Aichangel  and  the 
trump  of  God;  we  see  the  deai!,a  mighty  army,  spring- 
ing up  from  their  beds  of  dust  and  corruption;  we  see 
Jesus  on  the  throne,  and  the  faithful  at  his  right  hand; 
w^e  seem  already  to  be  of  the  hap|-v  number,  and  to  hear 
theblessed  sentence,  "Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father.^' 
Let  us  ever  then  *'be  steadfast,  unmoveable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  forasmuch  as  we 
know  that  our  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord." 


Conclusion, 

"Walk  abeut  Zion,  and  go  round  about  her:  tell  the 
towers  thereof.  Mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks,  consider 
h(?r  palaces;  that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generation  follow- 
ing.''* It  will  not  be  deemed  uncharitable  to  say,  that 
the  Episcopal  Church,  in  her  devotions  and  institutions, 
does  not  shrink  from  a  comparison  with  any  church  on 
earth.  To  us  it  appears,  that  there  is  none  which  con- 
tains a  more  exact  transcript  of  the  word  of  God;  more 
scriptural  lessons  than  her  homilies,  a  more  scriptural 
creed  than  her  articles,  and  more  scriptural  supplication, 
than  her  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  But  as  the  artist 
tlirew  a  veil  over  the  face  of  Agamemnon,  from  the  im- 
posbibility  of  expressing  by  his  art  such  a  commixture 

*Psalm  xlviii.  12,  13. 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MAKUAL:.  1S7 

of  passions;  so  we  would  not  presume,  in  the  short 
space  that  remains,  to  enter  fully  upon  a  topic,  to  which, 
even  if  we  were  competent,  it  would  require  volumes  to 
do  justice.* 

It  is  not  pretended,  that  the  liturgy  is  free  from  the 
imperfection  of  all  human  things.  We  are  its  admirers, 
but  not  its  idolaters;  and  therefore  sensible  of  its  blem- 
ishes. There  are  perliaps  a  few  parts  which  would  ad- 
m'lt  of  the  knife;  but  then  in  whose  hands  could  it  be 
safely  trusted?  The  creed  of  a  whole  people  is  an  awful 
deposit;  and  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  if  ever  cast  into 
a  modern  crucible,  it  would  lose  much  of  its  pure  gold  in 
the  process.  V*'e  are  content  then  to  take  it  as  it  is; 
and  remembering  our  own  infirmities,  and  those  of  our 
species,  we  are  rather  disposed  to  wonder  it  is  so  good, 
than  to  complain  it  is  no  better.  Every  day's  experi- 
ence shews  us,  that  it  is  competent  under  the  divine 
blessing,  to  produce,  to  sustain,  and,  what  is  perhaps 
more,  to  revivCy  a  spiritual  religion.  Tlie  church  in 
England  and  America,  presents  at  the  present  moment, 
a  very  unusual  phenomenon;  "a  green  old  age;"  a  clergy 
in  many  instances,  combining  the  youthful  ardour  of  a 
sect,  with  the  calm  wisdom  of  a  long  and  temperate 
course.  By  a  resuscitation  of  her  decayed  powers,  she 
has,  as  it  were,  broken  the  bars  of  the  tomb;  revived  first  in 
one  limb,  and  then  in  another;  and  promises,  under  God, 
again  to  advance  a  favourite  child  of  the  reformation, 
and  to  bear  her  share  in  the  dispensation  of  religion  to 
a  perishing  world. 

The  liturgy  in  its  present  form,  derives  an  advantage 
ill  the  powerful  influence  of  association,  which  it  would 
lose  by  any  material  alteration.  The  period  of  its  birth 
was  the  age  of  the  reformation.  And  not  only  does  the 
era  of  its  birth  blazon  it  to  the  eyes  of  Protestants;  its 
authors  have  a  no  less  connnaiiding  influence  upon  our 

*  Whoever  wishes  to  see  this  subject  treated  more  fully,  wUl 
be  gratified  in  perusing-  Simeon  on  the  burgy,  and  also  a  Sermon 
by  Bishop  Dehon,  of  South  Caroluia.  Tlie  author  has  borrowed 
freely,  as  will  be  seen,  from  the  former. 


18S  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

feelings;  it  is  written  in  the  blood,  and  signed  by  the 
names  of  Cranmer,  and  Ridley,  and  Hooper  and  Lati- 
mer; of  those  martyrs,  <*vvhose  blood  is  the  seed  of  our 
church." 

If  any  then  should  be  disposed  to  leave  her  commu- 
nion and  seek  richer  pastures  in  other  folds,  can  it  be 
wondered  if  we  venture  to  think  they  will  be  disappoint- 
ed? Let  any  man  live  up  to  the  spirit  and  practice 
which  she  inspires  and  inculcates,  and  Heaven  will  re- 
quire no  more.  Say  no  longer  then  that  her  forms  are 
cold,  her  ceremonies  unmeaning,  and  her  worship  un- 
profitable. Look  within  thee,  and  behold  there  the  true 
cause  of  the  evil.  It  is  the  want  of  health,  and  not  the 
quality  of  the  food,  which  creates  the  disgust  under 
which  many  labour,  and  who,  instead  of  taking  the  whole- 
some though  sometimes  unpleasant,  medicines,  have  re- 
course to  potions  which  give,  though  a  more  agreeable, 
yet  a  deleterious  stimulus!  Men  without  religion 
are  in  the  case  of  sick  men,  and  the  regimen  necessary 
to  restore  them  is  not  pleasant  to  the  feelings.  For  this 
cause,  a  sober  and  temperate  course  of  religious  exer- 
cises may  be  tedious  and  irksome  at  first;  but  when  bj 
daily  and  constant  practice,  we  have  accustomed  our- 
selves to  them,  and  have  got  the  better  of  our  corrupt 
nature,  we  come  to  delight  in  them,  and  find  them  well 
suited  to  preserve  a  healthful  and  happy  state  of  the  sys- 
tem. On  the  other  hand,  we  may  adopt  an  empirical 
course,  which  is  at  once  agreeable  to  our  feelings,  and 
enlivening  to  our  sj.irits,  but  this,  by  keeping  up  an  un- 
due excitement  m  che  system,  induces  a  morbid  and 
sickly  condition,  and  the  last  state  of  that  man  is  worse 
than  the  first. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  avoid  extremes  in  our  re- 
ligious career.  We  may  be  too  fond  of  having  our  feel- 
ings roused,  and  our  ears  tickled  by  a  good  performer; 
but  there  is  at  least  ecjual  danger  of  our  contenting  our- 
selves with  a  cold,  unmeaning,  and  unfeeling  kind  of 
religion,  which  hardly  deserves  the  name.  Whatever 
abuses  may  have  beeo  made  of  truth,  it  still  remains  a 
irm  and  glorious  truth,  that  there  is  a  peace  which  Jesus 


THfi  ETISOOPAL  MANtTAL.  18^ 

gives  to  his  people,  a  peace  which  the  understanding 
cannot  conceive,  but  which  the  heart  can  feel  with  the 
most  delightful  experience.  This  is  a  jov  which  seeks 
no  plnucJits,  and  makes  no  parade.  It  blazes  not  out 
like  the  sudden  eruptions  of  the  volcano;  but  burns,  like 
the  vestal  fire,  clear  und  constant,  with  a  warmth  that 
invigorates  with<iut  consuming,  and  a  light  that  illumi- 
nates without  dazzhn-i;. 

Ye  votaries  of  the  world,  ye  lovers  of  pleasure  more 
than  lovers  of  God,  ye  who  toil  after  a  false  an<l  fugitive 
bliss,  and  have  always  found  the  flitting;  phantom  to  elude 
your  grasp,  give  over  the  v:iin  pursuit,  and  seek  felicity 
in  a  higher  source.  Turn  from  tuese  shallow  and  turbid 
streams  to  the  fountain  of  liviii;^  waters.  If  you  would 
tranquilize  your  bosom,  you  must  have  recourse  to  more 
powerful  medicines  than  the  Honours,  the  pleasures, 
the  riches,  or  the  empirical  philosophy  of  this  world.  It 
is  religion  alone,  the  religion  of  Christ,  the  religion 
of  the  heart,  wnich  can  give  true  and  permanent  peace. 
This  is  the  anodyne  of  wo,  the  universal  medicine,  of 
mental  disease.  It  makes  us  holy,  and  we  become  hap- 
py of  course.  It  admits  us  into  friendship  with  the 
Almighty  Father,  and  they  in  vvliom  He  delights  must 
be  happy. 

In  every  calamity  to  which  flesh  is  heir,  and  time  would 
fail  to  tell  the  long  and  sad  catalogue,  he  who  by  piety 
and  virtue  puts  himself  under  the  favour  and  protection 
of  God,  will  find  comforts  springing  up  like  flowers  un- 
der his  feet  in  the  desert.  A  ray  of  sunshine  will  beam 
upon  him  fi-om  tiie  fountain  of  light;  waters  shall  bi^eak 
forth  to  liim  in  toe  d^isert,  to  slake  the  thirst  of  his  pil- 
grimao;e,  and  make  even  tiie  bortiers  of  death  to  bloom 
with  fi'agrant  and  reliesiiing  flowers.  Like  the  Alpine 
mountain,  he  rises  aoove  liie  calamitous  scenes  ol  this 
world,  and  ihougii  clouUs  n  uv  loii  around  his  breast, 
eternal  sunshine  settles  on  lus  nead.  Hk  walks  with 
God,  and  draws  his  consolations  from  the  inexhaustible 
fulness  of  Heaven.  Tue  aucliur  oi  iins  hope  is  cast 
within  the  vail,  the  Heaven  of  Heavens,  and  fusiened 
to  the  very  throne  of  God. 


190  THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 

Sweet  hope!  unknown  to  the  ungodly,  into  whose  dark 
and  callous  bosom  the  beams  of  grac<'  Have  ne^r  pene- 
trated: Sweet  hope!  and  more  to  be  desire-'  than  all  the 
treasures  of  Golconda  and  Peru;  to  walk  u^  ierthe  light 
of  the  divine  countenance,  to  feel  t'ip  joys  which  his  pre- 
sence imparts;  to  be  safe  in  that  ark  wliich  rides  the 
waves  in  every  storm.  The  ocean  of  dejih  spreads  be- 
fore us  vast  and  dark,  and  wIjo  kni»ws  that  it  will  waft 
us  to  any  shore?  But  lo!  the  ark  of  our  safety  appears, 
and  the  sun  arising  with  healing  on  his  wings,  shews  us 
our  path  upon  the  mighty  waters.  We  commit  our- 
selves with  confidence  into  his  handsj  who  guides  our 
destiny,  who  has  traversed,  before,  this  '"vast  profound," 
whom  the  winds  and  the  sea  obey,  aiid  who,  we  know, 
will  bring  us  in  triumph  and  joy,  into  that  b^'tter  region, 
and  that  purer  skj,  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troub- 
ling and  the  weary  are  at  rest.  *'l  am  now  ready  to  be 
offered  up  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand;  I 
have  fought  a  good  fio;ht,  I  have  finL-^  .ed  my  course,  I 
have  kept  the  faith:  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me 
a  crown  of  righteousness  whicti  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
Judge  shall  give  me  at  that  day;  and  .  ot  to  me  only,  but 
unto  all  them  also  that  love  his  appearing."* 


Ji  Morning  Prayer  for  a  Family  on  the  Lord^s  Day.* 

We  praise  and  worship  thee,  O  Lord,  the  Creator  of 
Heaven  and  Earth;  for  thou  spakest  the  word,  and  all 
things  were  made;  thou  commandest,  and  they  were  cre- 
ated. VVe  admire  and  adore  thy  i  finite  wisdom  and 
power  in  the  things  thou  hast  made,  and  we  acknowledge 
our  absolute  dependence  upon  thee,  and  thy  great  good- 
ness and  bounty  to  us  and  all  the  world.  Blessed  be 
thou,  who  didst'so  love  tlie  world,  that  ihou  gavest  thine 
only  begotten  Son  to  redeem  it,   who  was  delivered  for 

*2  Tim.  iii.  6,  7,  8,  f  See  New  Manual. 


TK«  EPISCOPAL  MANUAl.  1^1 

•ur  offences,  and  raised  again  (as  on  this  day)  to  justify 
and  save  all  such  as  fear  and  obey  thee. 

We  give  thanks  to  thee,  O  Lord,  for  all  thy  mercies 
to  our  souls  and  bodies,  for  appointing  one  day  in  seven 
for  thy  more  pecul'.ar  worship  and  service.  All  possible 
praise  and  thanks  be  given  to  God,  v^^ho  created  us;  to 
Jesus  Christ,  who  redeemed  us;  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  sanctifies  ub.  Grant,  O  Lord,  that  by  a  wise  and 
religious  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  we  may  grow  up  to 
a  state  of  holiaess  and  righteousness,  and  that  our  souls 
may  be  prepared  for  those  glorious  and  delightful  praises, 
which  in  iieaven  will  be  part  of  the  happiness  and  em- 
ployment of  thy  saints  to  all  eternity. 

O  Lord,  we  confess  that  we  have  offended  thee,  by 
the  negligent  performance  of  our  holy  duties,  by  our 
abuse  of  thy  grace,  and  mis-spending  this  thy  holy  day, 
and  by  many  sins  committed  in  the  course  of  our  lives. 
But  let  not  this  provoke  thee  to  withdraw  the  assistances 
of  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  u>,  and  to  leave  us  to  the  vanity 
and  folly  of  our  own  minds.  We  humbly  beseech  thee, 
O  most  merciful  Father,  to  forgive  us  all  our  past  offences. 
Do  thou  mercifully  hear  our  prajers,  and  let  our  cry 
come  unto  thee. 

Let  our  whole  behaviour  on  this  day  be  such,  that  there 
may  be  nothing  thought,  said,  or  done  by  us,  but  what 
msij  best  serve  to  promote  the  end  for  which  thou  hast 
instituted  it;  and,  good  God,  make  every  one  of  us  dili- 
gent, not  only  to  savp  our  own  souls,  but,  as  much  as  in 
us  lies,  the  souls  of  others  too. 

Bless  thy  universal  church:  Be  thou  graciously  present 
in  all  Christian  assemblies  throughout  the  world,  and 
hear  the  prayers  they  shall  this  day  put  up,  and  make 
thy  word  effectual  to  the  pulling  down  the  kingdom  of 
Satan,  and  to  the  edifying  the  Church  of  Christ  in  sound 
faith  and  real  gorllines^.  M.iy  thy  word  come  with  power 
into  every  conscience,  and  have  a  due  and  saving  effect 
upon  the  minds  of  all  that  hear  it. 

Bestow  a  plentiful  portion  of  thy  good  Spirit  upon  all 
that  by  sickness,  imprisonment,  or  any  other  lawful  im- 
pediment, are  kept  from  partaking  of  the  means  of  grace 


192  THE  EPISCOVAL  SIANVAL. 

that  we  enjoy;  and  be  pleased  mercifully  to  relieve  and 
succour  them  in  all  their  straits  and  difficulties.  Those 
that  are  troubled  in  mind,  do  thou  direct  to  proper  means 
to  obtain  comfort  and  satisfaction.  Give  all  that  have 
no  sense  of  thy  Majesty,  and  live  as  it  were  without  God 
in  the  world,  awakening  convictions  ot  the  dangers  they 
are  in,  and  the  miseries  they  are  exposed  to,  that  they 
may  escape  them. 

Pardon  our  sins  and  imperfections,  and  relieve  all  our 
wants,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ;  in  whose  words  we 
farther  pray; 

Our  Father^  ^c. 


A  Concluding  Prayer. 

The  Grace  of  our  Loid  Jesus  Christ;  and  the  Love 
•f  God;  and  the  Communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  with 
us  all.     Smen. 


An  Evening  Prayer  for  a  Family  on  the  Lord's  Day. 

Eternally  blessed,  and  infinitely  glorious  Lord  God, 
who  keepest  mercy  for  thousands,  and  forgivest  the 
iniquities  of  all  truly  ptnitent  and  returning  sinners; 
We  present  ourselves  this  evening  before  thee,  acknow- 
ledging our  manifold  sins,  whereby  we  have  exposed 
ourselves  to  thy  just  lUspleasure. 

We  have  been  unndiidful  both  of  our  duty  and  interest; 
have  broken  thy  hul\  laws,  dishonored  our  holy  religion, 
and  miserably  neglect<-d  the  great  salvatmn  thy  blessed 
Son  purchased  and  pn/rured  for  mankind. 

We  have  c«)nie  Mithi»ut  due  preparation  to  thy  solemn 
worship,  and  been  heeUiess  and  inattentive  in  hearing  thy 
word.  O  how  cold  and  flat  have  we  been  in  t)>y  praises! 
how  eanhiy,  dull,  and  distracted,  in  our  prayers! 


THE  EPISBOPAL  MANUAL.  19S 

Mow  seldvom  have  we  been  seriously  exercised  in  holy 
meditation!  How  seldom  have  we  recollected  thy  multi- 
plied mercies  to  us,  so  as  to  become  sensible  of  the  many 
oblig;ation^  we  are  under  to  thee  for  them;  or  so  thought 
on  our  ways,  as  to  turn  our  feet  to  thy  testimonies! 

But,  O'Lard,  we  humbly  pray  thee,  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake,  to  forgive  us  all  our  past  offences.  Direct  and 
guide  us  in  the  ways  of  truth  and  holiness:  And  that  we 
may  alwavs  ff^ar  thee  our  God,  help  us  to  set  thee  always 
before  ua;  and  so  to  observe  and  consider  thy  all-seeing 
eye,  that  we  may  dread  to  offend  thee. 

Reform  whatever  thou  seest  amiss  in  the  temper  and 
disposition  of  our  minds:  and  be  thou  graciously  pleased 
to  coisd  ict  us  s;ife  thr.)Uj;h  all  the  te  oplatious  and 
troub?cS  of  this  world.  To  this  end,  enable  us  strictly 
to  follow  the  example  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  manfully  to 
fight  under  his  banner,  against  the  world,  the  flesh,  and 
the  devil,  vigorously  opposing,  and  valiantly  conquering 
all  the  enemies  of  our  ?uuls.  Help  us,  in  conformity  to 
his  death,  to  die  dady  unto  sin,  and  in  conformity  to  his 
resurrection,  to  rise  to  a  life  of  holiness  and  otiedience, 
that  so  we  may  receive  the  prize  of  a  glorious  and  incor- 
ruptible inho.-i'uince. 

O  Lord,  we  render  unto  thee  our  most  humble  and 
thankful  acknowledgments,  for  thy  many  and  undeserved 
mercie  .  It  was  thy  hand  that  formed  us.  It  was  Thou 
that  g'tvf^st  us  life,  and  breath,  and  being.  Oar  food  and 
raiment,  our  health  and  strcugta,  our  ease  and  liberty, 
the  use  of  our  liinos,  and  the  exercise  of  our  reason  and 
understanding,  are  all  derived  from  thee.  We  therefore 
render  unto  thee,  O  thou  bountiful  giver  of  all  good,  our 
praises  and  thankso;ivin;j;s,  for  thy  tetnporal  mercies  to  us, 
whicii  we  are  uiterij  uawortny  oL 

But  above  all,  O  Lord,  we  praise  thee  for  thy  spiritual 
mercies;  for  blessing  us  in  heavenly  things  "^in  Christ 
Jesus,  which  tend  to  the  renewing  us  after  thy  likeness 
in  this  life,  and  to  the  sanctifying  and  preparing  us  for 
that  which  is  to  come. 

For  ever  blessed  be  thy  Name,  that  our  compassionate 
Itedeenier  took  upon  bioi  oar  human  iesh.     We  oraf^ 


394  THE  BPISCOFAb  VAVUAlX 

thee  for  His  holy  doctrine,  and  eiemplarv  life;  that  he 
<;ave  himsplf  to  death,  to  purchase  our  redemption;  that 
he  completed  that  great  work  by  his  glorious  resurrection. 
We  bless  thee  that  he  hath  begotten  us  again  to  the  lively 
<hope  of  an  inheritance,  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  that 
fadeth  not  away,  which  is  resf^'ved  in  Heaven  for  all, 
who,  by  patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  seek  for  glory, 
and  honour,  and  immortality.  We  praise  thee  for  his 
glorious  ascension  into  Heaven,  theie  to  intercede  in  thy 
presence  for  us;  for  sending  the  Holy  Ghost  to  comfort 
and  assist  us;  for  appointin?  a  succession  of  men  to 
preacli  and  propagate  the  khowiedgt  and  practice  of  his 
heavenly  doctrine,  and  to  administer  the  holy  sacraments, 
the  seals  of  thy  covenant. 

We  thank  thee,  O  Heavenly  Father,  for  all  the  pre- 
cious proii'i-es  io  the  gos^.el  oi"  thv  Son;  dm!  that  thou 
hasT  made  our  duty  so  necessarv  to  our  happiness.  Oh! 
that  we  may  all  so  affectiohately  apply  our  minds  to  the 
consideration  ol  thy  uianilold  Micrcies,  that  they  may 
work  in  our  souls  all  those  divive  virtues,  dispositions, 
and  aliectioas,  which  they  are  designed  by  thee  to  pro- 
duce in  us. 

Extend  thy  mercy,  O  God,  to  the  whole  world,  that 
thy  name  may  be  great  an>ong  the  Gentiles,  from  the 
rising  of  the  sun,  unto  Ih^  v;t.liig  d(.wii  of  ihe  same. 

Bless  thy  universal  churl h.  Put  an  end  to  all  schism 
and  division,  strife  and  contention;  purify  and  cleanse 
it  froui  profanene-^s  and  ungodliness,  from  superstition, 
l^eresv,  iivil  false  doctrine;  arn!  u.ake  it.  the  joy  of  the 
whole  earth. 

Be  gracious  to  this  sinful  nation  to  which  we  belong,* 
forgive  our  many  and  great  si!i^;  ami  jarticularly,  we 
pray  thee,  paidon  our  abuse  of  time  set  apart  for  thy  more 
immediate  worship:  our  untha».l<fulness  lor  the  light  of 
th^  gospui,  aiiu  wuikiii^  cuii(ic.ij  -u  us  piecepts.  VVash 
us  thoroughly  from  our  iniquities,  and  cleanse  us  from 
our  sins;  and  grant  that  by  unity  and  charity,  and  holi- 
ness of  life,  we  may  glorify  i\\y  great  name,  and  adorn 
the  doctrine  of  God  our  Saviour  in  all  things. 

Continue  the  light  of  thy  gospel  among  us:  defeat  and 


THE  BPISeOPAL  MAIJUAL.  ItS 

overthrow  the  designs  of  evil  men,  that  would  pervert 
the  truth  of  it. 

Be  thou  pleased  to  further  with  thy  blessing  all  those 
good  designs  that  are  for  the  advancement  of  true  reli- 
gion and  virtue.  Let  no  artifices  of  the  devil,  or  wicked 
men,  render  them  ineffoctual. 

Let  a  sense  of  the  inesti^.iable  value  of  souls,  inspire 
all  Bishops  and  Pi^tors,  exciting  them  to  promote  and 
further  the  salvation  of  men,  by  soundness  ot  doctrine, 
and  holiness  of  life,  and  a  due  administration  of  thy  holy 
sacraments. 

Let  all  magistrates  and  other  inferior  officers,  maintain 
and  defend  rrue  religion,  encouraging  virtue  and  good- 
ness, and  punishing  and  suppressing  all  profaneness  and 
ungodliness;  and  let  all  men  follow  after  peace  and  holi- 
ness, without  which  no  man  shall  see  Thee. 

O  thou  that  art  the  Father  of  Mercies,  relieve  all  that 
are  in  affliction,  of  any  kind  whatsoever;  and  grant  that 
all  may  have  cause  to  say,  It  is  good  for  them  that  they 
have  been  in  trouble. 

Be  gracious  and  favourable  to  us,  that  are  here  before 
thee;  forgive  all  <mr  sins,  and  remember  not  the  iniquities 
of  our  holy  things.  Defend  and  protect  us  this  night 
from  all  those  dangers  and  toischiefs,  that  may  justly 
overtake  us.  Refresh  our  frail  bodies  with  quiet  and 
moderate  rest,  and  help  us  in  the  renewed  strength 
thereof,  vigorously  to  serve  thee  in  the  faithful  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  the  following  day.  And  in  that,  and  all 
other  days,  enable  us  to  live  to  thy  honour  and  glory; 
that  in  the  end  of  them,  we  may  live  with  thee,  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  in  whose  prevailing  Name  and 
words,  we  sum  up  all  our  wants. 

Our  Father^  Sfc, 


A  Morning  Prayer  for  a  Family,  for  any  other  Day  in 
the  IVeek. 

O  Eternal  God,  Creator  and  Preserver  of  all  man- 
kind, Giver  of  all  spiritual  Grace,  the  Author  of  ever- 


196  THE  EPIS0«P1L  AfAWAL. 

lasting  life;  we  thine  unworthy  Servants  desire  to  praise 
thy  Name,  for  all  the  expressions  of  thy  bounty  towards 
us.  We  give  thee  thanks,  that  thou  hast  preserved  us 
from  many  and  great  dangers,  wherewith  we  have  been 
encompassed:  thar  thou  hast  brought  us  sate  to  the  light 
of  this  day;  that  thou  hast  refreshed  us  the  past  night, 
with  quiet  rent  an«l  sleep.  But  above  all,  we  bless  thy 
holy  Name,  that  thou  hast  given  thy  .*^on  to  die  tor  our 
sins,  and  to  put  us  in  a  wav  oj  being  happy,  if  we  obey 
thee;  and  after  all  our  wilful  abuse  of  thy  mercies,  hast 
still  patience  with  us,  to  see  if  we  will  timsh  the  work, 
thou  hast  set  us  to  df*,  and  nt  our  souls  tor  eternal  glory. 

Pardon,  good  Lord,  we  beseech  thee,  all  our  former 
sins,  and  all  our  abuses  of  thy  forbearance  and  long-suf- 
fering, for  which  we  are  I'ow  sorry  at  our  hearts.  Give 
us  grace  to  lead  more  holv  lives,  and  to  be  more  careful 
in  improving  all  future  opportunit^ies.  Make  thyself 
present  to  our  minds,  and  let  thy  love  and  thy  fear  rule 
in  our  souls,  in  all  those  places  and  companies  where  our 
occasions  shall  lead  us  this  day. 

Keep  us  chaste  in  all  our  thoughts;  temperate  in  all 
our  enjoyments;  humble  in  all  our  opinions  of  ourselves; 
charitable  in  all  our  speeches  of  others;  meek  and  peace- 
able under  all  prov  i»caiiiins;  sincere  and  faithful  in  all 
our  professions;  and  so  just  and  upright  in  all  our  deal- 
ings, that  no  nectsssitv  may  force,  nor  opportunity  ia 
any  kind  allure  us  to  uetraud,  or  overreacii  our  neigh- 
bour. When  thou  bestr west  good  on  others,  let  us  not 
envy,  but  rejoice  in  it;  and  \\hen  thou  addest  any  to 
ourselves,  let  us  own  tiiy  mercy,  and  humb.y  thank  thee 
for  it. 

Afford  us  convenient  supplies  in  all  our  reasonable 
necessities,  and  piotect  us  against  the  approach  ot  all 
dangers;  make  us  diligent  is  our  affairs,  and  give  us 
such  success  to  our  la^v  Jul  endeavours,  as  thou  seest  best 
and  most  expedient  tor  us;  teach  us  contentedly  to  sub- 
mit, and  not  to  repine  at  any  thing  that  happens  by  the 
allotment  (^f  thy  wise  Providence. 

In  all  our  passage  through  this  world,  and  our  mani- 
fold concerns  in  it,  sufternot  our  hearts  to  be  too  much  set 


THE  EPISCOPAL   MANUAL. 


19: 


upon  it;  but  always  fix  our  minds  upon  the  blessed  hope 
of  everlasfino;  life,  that  as  we  go  along:,  we  may  make 
all  the  things  of  this  world  minister  to  it,  and  be  careful, 
above  all  thinos,  to  fit  our  souls  for  that  pure  and  perfect 
bliss,  which  thou  hast  prepared  for  all  that  love  and  fear 
thee,  in  the  glories  of  thy  kingdom. 

Direct  us  in  all  our  actions,  guard  us  against  all  dan- 
gers, relieve  us  in  all  straits,  and  grant  that  we  may 
always  make  thee  our  confidence,  and  take  all  things 
well  that  thou  orderest  for  us.  Shorten  our  sorrows, 
and  deliver  us  from  all  our  sins,  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake; 
in  the  full  extent  of  whose  words,  we  pray  to  be  heard 
both  for  ourselves,  and  for  all  mankind. 

Our  Father,  ^^c. 


Jin  Evening  Prayer  for  a  Family. 


Almighty  God,  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
Maker  of  all  tilings,  Jud2:eof  all  men;  we  acknowledge 
and  bewail  our  manifold  sins  and  wickedness,  which  we 
from  time  to  tim.e  most  grievously  have  committed,  by 
thought,  word,  and  deed,  against  thy  divine  Majesty. 

Have  mercy  upon  us,  O  Lord,  after  thy  great  good- 
ness; according  to  the  multitude  of  thy  mercies  do  away 
our  offences;  wash  us  thoroughly  from  our  wickedness, 
and  cleanse  us  from  our  sins;  create  and  make  in  us 
new  and  contrite  hearts,  that  we  worthily  lamenting  our 
sins,  and  acknowledging  our  wretchedness,  may  obtain 
of  thee,  the  God  of  all  mercy,  perfect  remission  and 
forgiveness. 

Grant  us,  O  Lord,  the  assistance  of  thy  Holy  Spirit, 
that  for  the  time  to  come  we  may  think  and  do  always 
such  things  as  are  rightful;  that  we,  who  cannot  do  any 
thing  that  is  good  without  thee,  may  by  thee  be  enabled 
to  live  according  to  thy  will.     Let  thy  grace  always  so 


198  THE  El'lSOOPAL  MANUAL. 

present  and  fellow  us,  as  to  make  us  continually  to  be 
^i^^n  U)  all  p(H;(i  \vor!;s. 

Help  us,  0  T.ord,  to  withstand  the  assaults  of  tl.e 
enemies  of  our  Salvation,  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil:  and  with  puie  hearts  and  minds  to  follow  thee 
the  only  God.  Graft  in  our  souls  the  love  of  thy  Name, 
increase  in  us  true  religion,  nourish  us  with  ail  good- 
ness, and  of  thy  great  mercy  keep  us  in  the  same. 
Grant  that  we  may  love  the  things  which  thou  com- 
mandest,  and  desire  that  which  thou  doth  promise;  that 
so  among  tiie  sundry  and  manifold  changes  of  the  world, 
our  hearts  may  surely  there  be  fixed,  where  true  joys 
are  to  be  found.  Dispose  us  by  all  the  means  of  grace 
we  enjoy,  to  attain  that  everlasting  Salvation  thou  hast 
promised. 

Teach  i:s,  O  Lord,  so  to  number  our  days,  that  we 
may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom;  that  we. may  press 
forward  toward  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  that  is  be- 
fore us,  with  faith  and  patience,  with  humility  and 
meekness,  with  mortification  and  self  denial,  with  char- 
ity, and  constant  perseverance  to  the  end;  that  so  when 
we  shall  depart  this  life,  we  may  sleep  in  the  Lord,  and 
at  the  general  resurrection  in  the  last  day,  we  may  re- 
ceive tliat  blessing  which  thy  beloved  Son  shall  then 
confer  upon  all  that  truly  love  and  fear  Thee. 

Take  us,  O  Lord,  we  beseech  thee,  into  thy  protection 
this  night,  and  by  thy  great  mercy  detend  us  from  all 
the  perils  and  dangers  of  it.  Keep  us  both  outwardly 
in  our  bodies,  and  ^inwardly  in  our  souls,  that  we  may 
be  defended  from  all  adversities  that  may  happen  to  the 
body,  and  from  all  evil  thoughts  that  may  assault  and 
hurt  the  soul. 

Extend  thy  goodness,  O  Lord,  to  the  whole  race  of 
mankind.  Have  mercy  upon  all  Jews,  Turks,  Infidels, 
and  Hereticks;  take  from  them  all  ignorance,  hardness 
of  heart,  and  contempt  of  thy  word;  and  so  fetch  them 
home  U)  t!iy  tlock,  that  they  may  be  saved  with  thy  people 
in  the  great  tiay  of  the  Li»nl  J  ••sus.  Grant  unto  all  them 
that  are  admitted  into  the  leiiowship  ot  Christ's  religion, 
that   they   may  avoid  those  things  that  are   contrary  to 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL.  199 

their  profession,  and  follow  all  such  fhino;^  as  are  a^rree- 
able  to  the  same.  We  make  our  humble  supplications 
to  thee  for  all  our  benefactors,  friends,  and  relations,  and 
also  for  our  very  enemies;  let  thy  fatherly  hand  be  ever 
over  them,  and  so  lead  them  in  the  knowledge  and  obe- 
dience of  thy  word,  that  in  the  end  they  may  obtain 
everlastinjj  life. — Look  with  an  eye  of  pily  and  compas- 
sion upon  all  those  who  are  any  ways  afHicted  in  mind, 
body,  or  estate:  give  them  patience  under  all  their  suf- 
ferings, and  in  thy  due  time,  a  happy  issue  out  of  all 
their  afflictions. 

And  as  we  pray  unto  thee,  O  God,  for  ourselves  and 
others,  so  we  riesire  to  bless  and  praise  thy  holy  Name, 
fur  all  tiiy  goodness  and  loving  kindness  to  us  and  to  all 
men.  VVe  give  thee  hearty  thanks  for  the  preservation 
of  us  the  day  past,  and  the  rest  of  our  lives,  from  innu- 
merable accidents  and  dangers;  for  the  comforts  and 
conveniences,  as  well  as  the  necessaries  of  life;  but 
above  all  we  praise  thee  for  the  redeniption  of  the  world, 
by  the  death  and  passion  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  who  did 
humble  himself  even  to  the  death  of  the  cross,  for  us 
miserable  Sinners,  who  lay  in  darkness,  and  in  the 
shadow  of  death,  that  he  mig';t  make  us  the  children  of 
God,  and  exalt  us  to  everlasting  life.  Teach  us  to  ex- 
press our  thankfulness,  by  submitting  ourselves  entirely 
to  thy  holy  will  and  pleasure,  and  by  studjing  to  serve 
thee  in  true  holiittss  and  righteousness  all  the  days  of 
our  life.  Accept,  O  Lord,  of  these  our  prayers  and 
praises,  in  and  through  the  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ 
our  blessed  Saviour  and  Redeemer,  who  has  taught  us, 
when  we  pray,  to  »ay. 

Our  Father,  ^-c. 


Prayer  to  be  used  at  any  time  in  private. 

O  God,  who  art  my  strength  and  aidj  I  come  to  thee 
for  thy  blessing.     My  sias  are  many  and  great,  and  de- 


i^h 


THE  EPISCOPAL  MANUAL. 


serve  thy  wrath;  but  thynrooerty  is  to  have  mercy;  aniJ 
by  the  atonement  of  my  Saviour,"^  thou  canst  be  just  and 
the  justiiier  of  the  ungodly  who  believe  and  repent. 
Grant  me,  O  liOrd,  a  true  repentance,  and  a  lively  faith, 
that  being;  justified  tliereby,  I  may  have  peace  with 
Thee,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

O  my  Saviour,  when  shall  I  find  this  soul  so  fixed  on 
Thee  as  to  be  disturbed,  by  no  sinful  and  vain  thoughts, 
and  delivered  from  those  worldly  affections  which  even 
now  in  thy  presence,  like  a  flight  of  unclean  birds,  come 
to  annoy  the  sacrifice  which  1  would  place  on  thy  holy 
altar?  Do  thou  draw  me  by  the  attractions  of  thy  cross, 
that  my  affections,  soarino;  above  this  gross  atmosphere, 
may  rest  on  the  bosom  of  my  God.  O  Jesus,  my  Saviour, 
my  Mediator  and  Redeemer,  may  thy  love  fill  all  the 
powers  of  my  heart,  that  the  false  love  of  terrestrial 
plea&.;res  may  never  find  entrance  there. 

O  Holy  Spirit,  who  art  the  source  of  our  sanciifica- 
tion,  and  the  sovereign  cause  of  the  union  that  we  have 
v/ith  the  Father  and  Son,  draw  me  by  thy  influence,  that 
I  may  eypc:  ience  the  effects  of  the  love  of  God,  and  of 
his  Son  J^aus  Christ.  Thou  who  art  the  true  guide,  con- 
ductmt  to  the  path  which  I  ought  to  pursue^  inl'use  into 
my  hea'  I  that  divine  life  which  Christ  has  procured  for 
me  by  l-s  death.  Irradiate  and  purify  all  the  powers 
of  my  si.ul,  cleanse  even  the  thoughts  of  my  heart;  and 
make  it  a  vessel  fit  to  receive  thy  renovating  grace. 
Guard  it,  O  ihou  Divine  Spirit,  by  thy  gracious  presence; 
imprint  upon  my  soul  thy  sacred  seal,  that  it  may  not 
lose  its  sacred  deposit,  that  no  sinful  desires  may  open 
my  heart  to  vanity,  and  dissipate  the  riches  of  thy  grace. 
None  but  those  who  walk  in  the  paths  of  light  can  have 
communion  with  the  Sovereign  good;  no  malice,  no 
envy,  no  delight  in  sinful  pursuits,  can  dwell  in  tlie  soul 
that  hopes  for  union  with  its  God.  Come  then.  Holy 
Spirit,  banish  from  my  soul  all  unworthy  desires,  all  de- 
basing appetites:  inspire  me  with  celestial  affections, 
and  prepare  in  it  a  habitation  for  thyself. 

Inspire  me,  Gracious  God,  with  proper  dispositions 
towards  all  mankind,  and  espeeially  to  those  to  whom  1 


siand  immediately  related.  May  I  love  my  neighboUF  as 
myself,  and  do  unto  all  men,  as  I  would  they  should  do 
unto  me.  May  1  never  repine  at  their  prosperity,  but 
rejoice  to  see  thee  pouring  thy  blessings  upon  the  evil 
and  the  good.  Reveal,  O  Lord,  thy  light  and  thy  truth  to 
all  the  human  family.  Have  mercy  upon  all  who  are 
living  in  sin,  and  turn  them  from  the  error  of  their 
way.  Bless  all  my  friends  and  acquaintances,  my 
neighbours  and  relations.  Grant  them  in  this  world  the 
knowledge  of  thy  truth,  and  in  the  world  to  come,  life 
everlasting.  May  my  enemies  always  have  a  place  in 
thy  mercy  and  my  prayers.  Let  thy  kingdom  come,  and 
be  establish.^d  in  every  land,  and  in  every  heart. 

Imprint  upon  my  heart  a  deep  sense  of  thy  mercies, 
both  temporal  and  spiritual,  graciously  continue  thy 
goodness  to  me,  and  make  me  always  contented  and 
thankful  in  that  condition  to  which  it  shall  please  thee  to 
Call  me.  Be  thou  my  consolation  in  distress;  my  phy- 
sician when  I  am  sick;  my  joy  in  the  midst  of  sorrowj 
my  deliverer  in  the  hour  of  distress.  In  prosperity 
save  me  from  the  insinuating  power;  in  adversity  sus- 
tain me;  in  dangers  be  thou  my  defence;  in  doubtf 
explain  and  dispel  my  darkness.  In  the  hour  of  death, 
and  in  the  day  of  judgment,  deliver  me,  O  my  God. 

O  God  the  Father,  graciously  inspire  and  assist  me 
in  all  my  supplications  by  thy  Holy  Spirit,  and  accept 
of  them  thr.)ugh  the  merits  of  my  advocate  and  Re- 
deemer, Jesus  Christ.        Amen. 


THE  END. 


BZHXSGTIOSrS 
A  DEVOUT  AND  DECENT  BEHAVIOUR 

IK  VEX 
MOBB  PARTI CtrX ABLY  IBT  TBI 

mm  cC  ttje  ©cnrnton  J^ras^r, 

APPOIITTED  BT  THX 

PROTESTANT   EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to  the  house  of  God,  and  be 
more  ready  to  hear,  than  to  give  the  sacrifice  of  fools;  for  they 
consider  not  that  they  do  evil  — Eccles.  v.  1, 

I  will  pray  with  the  Spirit,  and  I  will  pray  with  the  Under- 
standing also. — Cor.  xiv.  15. 


DIRECTIONS 

FOB  A. 

DEVOUT  AND  DECENT  BEHAVIOUR 

IN  THE 

J.T  is  grievous  to  consider  how  many  Christians  there 
are  (if  such  as  they  deserve  the  name  of  Christians)  who 
come  not  to  church  at  all,  or  very  seldom,  to  pay  that 
public  duty  and  worship  to  God,  which  our  religion  calls 
for,  and  which  a  regard  for  the  welfare  of  civii  society 
requires.  And  even  of  those  who  do  come,  we  find  too 
many  behaving  themselves  in  such  a  careless  manner, 
as  if  the  worship  of  God,  was  either  not  their  business 
there,  or  not  worth  minding.  Some  sit  all  the  time  of 
prayers;  or  put  themselves-  into  such  other  lazy  and 
irreverent  postures,  as  show  sufficiently  they  have  no 
sense  of  what  they  should  be  doing,  nor  any  awe  or 
reverence  of  the  glorious  Being  they  came  to  address. 
Others  lay  themselves  to  sleep,  or  trifle  away  their  time 
in  thinking  of  their  worldly  affairs.  Others  gaze  and 
stare  about  upon  the  congregation,  or  keep  talking  and 
whispering  with  their  neighbors;  and  this  is  especially 
observable  while  the  Lessons  are  reading;  as  if  the  holy 
scriptures,  though  given  by  Inspiration  of  God,  were  not 
always  to  be  heard,  marked^  teamed^  and  inwardly  di- 
gested, that  so  they  may  answer  the  ends  for  which  they 
were  written,  and  become  profitable  for  Doctrine,  for 
RepreoffoT  Correction,  fer  Instruction  in  Righteomn^Ss^ 
1-8 


or,  in  one  word,  good  to  the  Use  €f  Edifying*  1  Tim, 
iii.  16.  With  regard  to  such  cold  and  careless  worship- 
pers, we  may  apply  to  the  church  what  Jacob  said  of 
Bethel}  Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this  place  and  they  kneiv 
it  not.  They  do  not  consider,  that  they  are  in  the  im- 
mediate presence  of  God,  and  that  by  such  a  behaviour 
they  affiont  him  to  his  face,  while  they  should  be  de- 
voutly attending  to  his  word,  or  praying  to  him. 

Others  there  are,  who  do  indeed  show  some  inclination 
to  mind  the  prayers,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  service;  but 
they  do  it  with  so  much  ignorance,  distraction,  or  confu- 
sion, as  discover  that  they  do  not  rightly  understand 
the  difference  between  one  part  of  the  service  and 
another;  or  consider,  that  some  are  Prayers^  some  Praises 
and  Thanksgivings^  some  public  Professions  of  the 
Christian  faith,  and  some  no  more  than  Instructions, 
Commands  or  Exhortations  to  the  people.  We  often 
find  them  repeatinjj;  after  the  minister  what  he  alone 
should  speak,  and  they  should  only  hearken  to.  Many 
there  are  who  neglect  to  join  audibly  in  the  responses, 
which  are  the  part  of  the  worship  assigned  expressly  to 
the  people,  by  which  neglect,  the  beauty,  the  order,  and 
the  solemnity  of  the  service  are  destroyed.  Now,  that 
such  persons  may  be  taught  how  to  order  their  devotions 
better,  and  to  worship  God,  not  only  with  the  Spirit, 
but  with  the  Understanding  too,  the  following  directions 
are  earnestly  recommended  to  their  consideration  and 
practice. 

First  then.  Have  a  conscientious  regard  to  this  Advice 
of  Solomon,  (to  whom  God  gave  a  vnse  and  understand- 
ing Heart)  Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to  the  House  of 
God;  and  so  look  to  every  step  you  take  in  your  ap- 
proach to  it,  that  you  come  into  his  more  immediate  pre- 
sence with  such  contemplations,  meditations,  and  reiiec- 
tions  in  your  mind,  as  will  lift  up  your  soul  unto  him, 
under  an  awful  and  just  sense  of  his  divine  majesty  and 
perfections;  and  with  that  humble  and  contrite  spirit, 
which  dependent  creatures,  and  miser. ble  sinners  ought 
to  have.  Remember,  that  since  God  is  a  Spirit,  your 
v/orship  of  him  must  be  spiritual  and  reasonable,  sincere 


207 

and  pure  =  It  must  flow  from  a  divine  and  heavenly 
frame  of  mm^t  But  yet,  as  the  whole  Man  consists  of 
Body  and  Vo'd  together,  you  must  i(lorify  him  in  both; 
(1  Cor.  vi.  2iK)  and  considering  their  natural  union  and 
sympathy,  v«  a  must  take  such  heed  to  every  gesture  and 
posture  of  vour  body,  as  that  they  may  be  such  as  will 
best  express  your  humility,  reverence,  and  earnestness, 
and  keep  up  suitable  though+s  and  affections  in  your  soul. 
Particularly,  yor.  will,  1  believe,  hence  think,  that  a 
kneeling  pr^'iiure  Is  most  proper;  being  that  which  nature 
seems  to  dictate  in  solemn  adorations  and  h-imbie  con- 
fessions, without  this  express  call  for  it  from  the  inspired 
Psalmist,  (F'^a^  xcv.  6.)  O  come,  let  us  tvorship,  and 
fall  down,  ani  k-ieel  before  the  Lord  ovr  Maker.     But, 

Secondly,  If  vou  are  thus  prepared  to  worshij)  God  in 
Spirit  and  in  Trutlu  you  will  then  be  sure  to  go  so  early 
to  his  house,  as  to  be  there  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
service;  since  the  same  obligation  lies  upon  you  to  attend 
every  part  of  his  public  worship  as  to  come  to  church  at 
all.  For  if  you  miss  the  beginning  of  it,  you  lose  the 
opportunity  of  confessing  your  sins,  and  the  comfort  of 
hearing  your  pardon  declared  and  pronounced  to  you 
thereupon.  Beside  that,  by  coming  late,  you  disturb  the 
congregation  to  make  way  for  you.  Take  care  also  not 
to  leave  the  church,  without  great  necessity,  till  after 
the  minister  has  given  the  Blessing  that  concludes  the 
whole  service;  for  if  you  go  out  before,  you  will  seem  to 
despise  the^  Blessing;  and  if  you  do  so,  you  cannot  ex- 
pect the  Grace  and  Peace  of  God  should  go  along  with 
you.     But, 

Thirdly.  Having,  as  soon  as  you  can,  gotten  a  conve- 
nient opportunity  after  your  entrance  into  the  church, 
fall  down  upon  your  ki^ees  in  private  prayer  to  God,  for 
the  assistance  of  his  spirit  in  those  solemn  duties  of  reli- 
gion you  come  to  perform.  You  will  behave  as  in  his 
sight;  you  will  look  upon  him  as  observing  what  you 
Uiink^  as  well  as  wiiatyou  suy  and  do:  and  take  care  all 
the  while  you  are  at  church,  that  the  mt^arf/ dispositions 
of  your  soul  and  the  outward  demeanor  of  your  body^  be 


s>uch  as  becometh  not  only  the  holiness  and  worship  of 
his  house,  but  his  more  immediate  presence. 

In  Prayer,  you  will  fix  your  thoughts  wholly  upon 
God,  who  alone  heareth  Prayer;  you  will  disengage 
your  mind  from  all  worldly  concerns;  you  will  keep 
your  eyes  from  wandering,  and  your  lips  from  disturb- 
ing others  in  their  devotions. 

In  T/ianks8^ivmf(,  imprint  upon  your  heart  a  just  and 
lively  sense  of  God's  goodness  and  loving  kindness  to 
yourself  and  to  all  men;  since  you  will  then  Jeel  how 
joyful  and  pleasant  a  thing  it  is  to  be  thankful.  Psalm 
cxlvii.  1. 

In  hearins^  of  God^s  Word^  (whether  it  be  read  or 
preached)  be  not  only  attentive  to  it,  but  inwardly  digest 
it,  by  applyinji  to  your  own  conscience  its  ^e?iera/ admo- 
nitions, reproofs,  or  exhortations;  and  by  treasuring  up 
in  your  memory  its  prece  jts  and  examples,  its  promises 
and  threatenings,  for  the  constant  and  right  ordering  of 
your  conversation. 

In  Singing  Psalms,  let  your  understanding  and  spirit 
direct  and  govern  the  melody  of  your  voice  that  so  your 
heart  may  be  no  less  filled  with  grace,  than  your  tongue 
with  joy.     And, 

Lastly.  In  Receiving  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord^s  Sup' 
per,  remember  always  the  exceeding  great  love  of  our 
master  and  only  Saviour  in  dying  for  us,  and  the  innu- 
merable benefits  which  by  his  precious  bloodsheddinghe 
hath  obtained  for  us. — For  you  will  then  at  all  times 
draw  near  to  receive  it  with  faith,  with  a  penitent  and 
obedient  heart,  in  love  and  charity  with  all  mankind, 
and  with  a  determined  resolution  to  forsake  those  sins 
which  brou-ht  him  even  to  the  death  upon  the  cross; 
which  will  likewise  engage  you  to  serve  him  in  true  holi- 
ness and  righteousness  all  the  days  of  your  life. 

But  beside  these  general  directions  for  the  Public 
Worship  of  God,  there  are  others,  which  particularly 
concern  a  devout  and  proper  use  of  the  Book  ot  Common 
Prayer;  and  which  will  lequire  your  immediate  attention 
to  the  nature  and  order  of  every  part  in  that  service. 


209 

The'  Sentences* 

Now  the  first  thing;  done  by  the  Minister,  is  to  read 
some  sentences  out  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Hearken 
diligently  to  these;  and  consider  them  as  spoken  by  the 
inspiration  or  command  of  God  himself  at  first,  and 
now  repeated  by  his  Minister,  to  put  you  in  mind  of 
something  which  he  would  have  you  believe  or  do.  For 
they  are  such  sentences  as  not  only  bring  our  sins  against 
him  to  our  remembrance,  but  also  his  promises  of  par- 
don and  forgiveness  if  we  do  not  repent;  so  that  we 
may  worship  him  with  that  reverence  and  godly  fear, 
which  becomes  those  who  are  sensible  of  their  own  sin- 
fulness and  unworthiness  to  approach  his  divine  Majesty; 
and  likewise  with  that  faith  and  humble  confidence 
which  becomes  those  who  believe  that  upon  our  repent- 
ance he  will  pardon  and  accept  us,  according  to  his 
promises. 

The  Exhortation, 

Then  follows  a  solemn  exhortation.  Now  while  this 
is  reading  (which  is  the  Minister's  part  alone,  and  not 
to  be  repeated  after  him  bj  the  congregation,)  take 
particular  notice  of  every  word  and  expression  in  it,  as 
contrived  on  purpose  to  prepare  you  for  the  v/orship  of 
God  by  possessing  3'our  minds  with  a  due  sense  of  his 
special  presence,  and  of  the  great  end  of  your  coming 
before  him  at  this  time;  which  will  no  doubt  compose 
your  thoughts  for  that  part  of  the  service  which  follows 
next;  I  mean,  an  humble  confession  of  your  sins. 

The  Confession. 

But  here,  while  you  are  Confessing  to  God  with  your 
mouth,  and  repeating  sentence  by  sentence  after  the 
minister,  be  sure  to  do  the  same  in  your  heart;  calling 
to  mind  as  many  as  you  can  of  those  particular  sins 
which  you  have  been  guilty  of,  either  by  doing  what  you 


oifght  not  to  do,  or  'not  doing  what  you  ought;  so  as  to 
be  heartily  sorry  for  them,  and  steadfastly  to  resolve 
against  them  for  the  time  to  come;  imploring  his  mercy 
in  the'pardon  of  them,  and  his  grace,  that  from  hence- 
forward you  may  entirely  forsake  them,  and  bring  forth 
the  fruits  of  an  unfeigned  repentance. 

The  Absolution. 

The  Confession  ended,  and  you  continuing  upon  your 
knees,  the  minister  stands  up,  and  in  the  name  of  God 
declares  and  pronounces  pardon  and  forgiveness  to  all 
that  truly  repent  and  un feigned ly  believe  his  holy  Gos- 
pel. But  while  the  absolution  is  thus  pronouncing,  you 
are  to  hearken  to  it  with  perfect  silence,  not  reading  av 
repeating  it  along  with  the  minister,  as  many  ignorant 
or  unthinking  people  do;  for  it  is  the  minister's  duty 
alone  to  make  this  declaration  by  authority  from  God: 
and,  in  his  Name,  ps  his  ambassador.  However,  every 
particular  person  there  present  ought  humbly  and  thank- 
fully to  apply  it  to  himself,  so  far  as  to  be  fully  per- 
suaded in  his  own  mind,  that  if  his  conscience  tells  him, 
that  after  an  unfeigned  and  unshaken  belief  in  Christ, 
he  doth  really  and  heartily  repent,  he  will  be  discharged 
and  absolved  from  all  the  sins  he  had  before  committed, 
as  certainly  as  if  God  himself  had  declared  it  with  his 
own  mouth,  since  his  minister  has  done  it  in  his  name, 
and  by  bis  power. 

The  Lord^s  Prayer. 

AY  hat  follows  is  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  which  the  whole 
congregation  joins:  for  looking  upon  ourselves  as  thus 
absolved  from  our  sins,  through  a  faith  that  worketh 
true  repentance;  we,  as  reconciled  unto  God  through 
his  Son,  may  have  such  boldness  and  access  to  the  throne 
of  Divine  Grace,  as  by  the  spirit  of  adoption  to  cry  out, 
I'lbba,  Father,  fRom.  viii.  16.)  in  the  very  form  he  tanght 
us  to  pitvy,  saying,  Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven,  Sfc. 


■Preparation  for  praising  God. — The  Psalms  and  Hymns* 

This  done,  we  are  to  lift  up  our  hearts  to  God  in  this 
petition  of  his  Minister  for  his  grace,  O  Lord,  open  thou 
our  lips;  to   which  the   answer  is,  what  it  ought   to  be, 
from  the  people,  £nd  our  mouth  shall  show  forth  thy 
praise.      Then  immediately  standing  up,   we  put  our- 
selves into  a  posture   of  giving  praise  to  the  One  living 
and  true  God;  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords. 
For  which  purpose  the  Minister  first  says.   Glory  be  to 
the  Father,  iS'C.  the  people,  to  show  their  consent,  an- 
swer, .-^5  it  was  in  the  beginning,  <S-c.     The   Minister, 
calling  again  upon  the  people.  Praise  ye  the  Lord;  and 
the  people  answering,  The  Lord^s  name  be  praised:  We 
go  on  accordingly  to  praise  him,  by  saying  or  singing 
the  anthem,  O  come,  let  us  sing  unto  the  Lord,  ^-c.  and 
then  the  psalms  appointed  for  the  day,  or  ojie  of  the 
selections.     After  which  (to  testify  that  it  is  the  same 
Divine  being,  three  persons  and  one  God,  in  honour  of 
whom  these  psalms  were  composed,  and  made  use  of  in 
the  Jewish  church;  and  who  is  still  praised  and  worship- 
ped bj*  them  in  the  Christian   Church)  we  repeat  that 
incomparable  hymn,  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  4'c.     Now, 
while    you,   together    with  the  mit/ister,   are  repeating 
these  Psalms,  and  this  or  the  other  Hym,ns  that  are  used 
in   diiferent  places  of  the  service,   to  the  honour  and 
glory  of  God;  observe   the  minister's  part  as  well  as 
your  own,  and  lift  up  your  hearts  together  with  your 
voices,  in  acknowledging,  magnifying,  and  praising  the 
infinite  wisdom  and  power,  and  goodness,  and  glory  of 
the  most  high  God  in  all  his  works,  the  wonders  that  he 
has  done,  and  stiil  does  for  the  children  of  men,  and  for 
yourself  among  the  rest.     And  in  doing  this  you  stand 
up;  not  only  to  signify,  but  to  forward  the  lifting  up  of 
your  mind  at  the  same  time.     For  as  on  the  one  hand, 
if  our  souls  be  really  lifted  up  to  contemplate  and  praise 
God,  our  bodies  will  naturally  rise  in  that  erect  posture, 
which  is  natural  to,  and  most  becometh  man;  so,  on  the 
•ther  hand,  the  raising  up  of  our  bodies  helps  towards 
the  raising  up  of  our  souls  too,  by  putting  us  in  mi^d  ©f 


21£ 

that  high  and  heavenly  work  we  are  about;  wherein,  ac- 
cording to  our  weak  capacities,  we  join  with  saints  and 
angels  above,  iu  praising  God  now,  as  we  hope  to  do 
hereafter  in  their  blessed  company  for  evermore,* 

The  Scriptures  Read. 

When  God's  Word  is  reading  in  either  of  the  chap- 
ters, whether  of  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  receive  it 
not  as  the  word  of  men,  but,  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word 
of  God,  which  effectually  worketh  in  them  that  believe, 
1  Thess.  ii.  13.  And  therefore  hearken  to  it  with  the 
same  attention,  reverence,  and  faith,  as  you  would  have 
done,  if  you  had  stood  by  mount  Sinai,  when  God  pro- 
claimed the  law,  or  by  our  Saviour's  side,  when  he  pub- 
lished the  Gospel.  But  remember  also  that  you  hear  in 
order  to  practice;  and  be  ye  doers  of  the  word,  and  not 
hearers  only,  deceiving  your  oivn  selves.  James  i.  22. 
Observe  in  those  parts  of  scripture  that  are  read  to  you, 
what  sins  Almighty  God  there  warns  you  against;  what 
duties  he  there  requires  you  to  perform;  what  doctrines 
he  there  teaches  you;  and  be  sure  that  when  you  go  home, 
you  think  of  them,  and  iive  accordingly. 

Hymns  after  the  Lessons .'-^The  Creed. 

As  soon  as  the  First  Lesson  is  read,  and  again  after 
the  Second^  we  renew  our  devout  praises  to  God  in  cer- 
tain Hymns  appointed  for  that  purpose.  And  then  with 
one  heart  and  voice  we  all  repeat  the  ^postle^s  Creed,  or 
that  which  is  commonly  called  the  Nicene  Creed,  to  sig- 
nify and  declare  our  assent  to,  and  firm  belief  of  the 
whole  Scriptures,  but  especially  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
Many  ignorant  people  seem  to  take  the  Creed  to  be  a 

?rayer,  and  repeat  it  as  such,  which  is  a  gross  mistake, 
t  is  not  a  prayer,  but  only  a  solemn  acknowledgment 
and  profession  of  our  faith,  or  what  we  do  believe  as 
Christians.  And  by  repeating  it,  here  we  do  in  the  face 
of  the  congregation,  profess  ourselves  to  continue  in  the 


213 

number  of  Christ's  disciples;  and  that  as  we  were  at 
first  baptized,  so  we  still  believe  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  one  God,  blessed  for  ever. 
And  this  also  we  do  standins^,  to  signify  our  readiness 
to  defend  this  faith  to  the  utmost  of  our  power,  against 
all  opposition  whatsoever.  Be  sure,  therefore,  that  you 
really  believe  every  article  as  you  pronounce  it,  that  you 
be  not  found  dissemblers  an^l  hypocritts  in  the  sight  of 
God;  and  when  you  stand  up  to  rep«^at  the  Creed,  let  it  be 
your  serious  purpose  to  coUmue  \n  fljat  j;ood  profession, 
and  to  stand  by  it,  and  hold  it  fast  without  tmvering, 
(Heb.  X.  23.)  under  all  ^ler^eculions,  if  you  shall  be 
called  at  any  time  to  suii'er  for  it. 

The  Prayers  or  Collects. — Preparation  thereto. — Short 
Ejaculations,  or  Petitions. — Joint  Prayer  or  Collects, — 
The  Litany. 

The  next  thing  we  do,  is  to  make  known  our  wants, 
and  present  our  petitions  unto  God.  But  seeing  that 
neither  minister  nor  people  can  possibly  do  it  aright 
without  the  grace  and  assistance  of  God  himself;  the 
minister  first  prays  for  his  special  presence  with  the 
people,  saying,  'J he  Lord  be  with  you;  and  they  put  up 
the  same  petition  for  the  minister,  answering  him,  And 
ivith  thy  Spirit,  Upon  which  they  all  immediately  adore 
God,  and  by  turns  lift  up  the:r  hearts  to  him,  striving, 
as  it  were,  to  outvie  each  otiier  in  prevailing  with  the 
Almighty  to  pour  down  his  blessiuiiS  upon  us.  Then, 
in  an  humble  and  solemn  m  *»nier,  we  join  together  in 
petitioning  the  Divine  Majesty  lor  his  giace  and  favour, 
his  defence  and  protection,  liis  mercy  and  blessings,  for 
ourselves,  for  all  in  civil  auiliority,  for  the  church  and 
for  all  uiankind.  This  v\e  orcliuarily  do  in  the  Collects 
appointetl  for  that  purpose;  but  upon  Wednesday,  Pridayy 
and  the  hordes  Day  morniiig,  we  uo  it  in  the  Litany; 
and  in  such  a  litany  as  compiL-heiHis  all  and  everything 
that  we  need  to  desire  of  Aiiui^hty  God,  either  for  our- 
selves or  others. 


Reverence  and  Devotion  in  these  Prayers, — Amen, — 
Answers  in  the  Litany, 

While  these  prayers  are  reafling:,  we  ouj2;ht  devoutly 
to  continue  upon  our  knees;  not  sitting,  or  in  any  other 
slothful  posture  as  too  many  profanely  and  irreverently 
do.  See  thereCore,  that  as  you  come  to  church  to  pray 
to  God,  you  do  it  in  that  awful,  lowly,  and  solemn  man- 
ner, which  becomes  creatutes,  when  you  speak  to  your 
great  and  alaiio;hty  Creator.  And  alrhuuijh  you  ought 
not  to  r^^peat  the  prayers  aloud  to  the  disturbance  of 
other  people,  yet  you  must  repeat  them  in  your  hearts; 
your  minds  accompanyinja-  the  minister  from  one  prayer 
to  another,  and  from  one  part  of  each  prayer  to  the 
other,  all  alon^;  with  affections  suitabli'  to  the  matter 
sounding  in  your  ears;  liumbly  adoring  and  praising 
God,  accordifig  to  the  names,  properties,  and  works 
which  were  attributed  to  him  at  the  beginning  of  each 
prayer;  earnestly  desiring  the  good  things  which  were 
asked  of  him  in  the  body  of  it  for  yourselves  or  others; 
and  steadfastly  believing  in  the  merits  and  intercession 
of  Jesus  Christ  for  your  obtaining  of  them,  when  he  is 
named,  as  he  is  at  the  end  of  every  prayer,  except  that 
of  St,  Chrysostoniy  because  that  is  directed  immediately 
to  Christ  himselt.  At  the  conclusion  of  every  collect 
also,  you  are  to  testify  your  sincere  joining  in  it;  and 
your  earnest  desire  of  a  share  in  the  blessings  prayed 
for,  by  a  solemn  Amen;  which  signifies,  So  be  it;  or 
Thus  J  hearfi/y  j^ray  Godit may  be.  But  in  the  litany, 
the  like  assent  is  signified  by  the  Answers  which  the 
people  are  directed  to  make  in  their  proper  places;  as, 
Good  Lord,  deliver  us;  that  is,  from  all  those  sins,  or 
other  evils,  which  the  minister  has  just  before  mention- 
ed. We  beseech  thee  to  hear  us,,  good  Lord;  that  is,  to 
grant  those  blessings  which  the  Minister  has  just  now 
recommended  to  our  desires.  By  these  we  <lo  expressly, 
and  more  at  larjie,  make  the  several  petitions  recited 
before  by  the  Minister,  our  own  petitions  and  requests 
to  God. 


215 

The  general  Thanksgiving. 

And  having  thus  in  the  collects  or  litany  prated  for 
all  necessary  blessings  for  ourselves  and  others,  it  is  but 
fit  we  should  praise  him  also  for  those  mercies  we  have 
already  received;  and  give  thanks,  not  only  in  behalf 
of  ourselves,  but  according  to  the  Apostle's  direction, 
for  all  mankind;  which  we  do,  toward  the  end  of  the 
service,  in  the  general  thanksgiving.  Here,  if  we  have 
any  special  or  particular  mercy  to  bless  God  for,  upon 
our  own  account,  let  us  gratetuUy  remember  it,  and  se- 
cretly in  our  own  hearts  return  our  praises  for  it,  when 
we  come  to  that  passage,  Thy  Goodness  and  Loving 
kindness  to  us  and  to  all  Men,  But  let  us  stir  up  our- 
selves to  the  utmost  fervency  that  is  possible,  when  we 
praise  him  for  his  inestimable  Love  in  the  Redemption  of 
the  Tforld  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  Means  of 
Grace,  and  for  the  Hope  of  Glory.  For  as  these  are 
the  greatest  blessings  he  could  bestow  upon  us,  the 
thankful  acknowledgment  of  them  is  one  of  the  chief 
ends  of  our  coming  together  thus  in  Christian  assem- 
blies. And  let  us  not  only  heartily  pray,  but  sincerely 
resolve  and  endeavour  to  show  our  sense  of  these,  as  of 
all  God's  other  mercies,  by  our  holy  and  obedient  lives. 

Concluding  Prayer, 

After  this  general  thanksgiving,  we  have  the  prayer  of 
St.  Chrysostom;  and  then  the  minister  alone  concludes 
with  The  Grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  4'C.  In  which 
prayer  is  comprehended  all  we  have  desired,  or  can  de- 
sire, to  make  us  completely  happy,  both  now  and  for 
ever.     And  with  this  our  common  daily  service  ends. 

The  Communion  Service, — Ten  Commandments. 

But  upon  Sundays  and  Holidays^  we  proceed  to  the 
Communion  Service;  to  that  part  uf  it  at  least  which  our 
church  enjoias  to  be  used  on  such  days,  though  there  be 
no  actual  communion.    Now  in  the  prayers  here,  the 


216 

same  temper  and  devotion  are  to  govern  us,  as  in  those 
before  put  uf ;  th^  same  reverence  and  attention  when 
the  epistles  am!  gospels^  are  read,  as  when  the  other  scrip- 
tures  (the  Jirst  and  second  lessons)  are.     But   what  is 
most  particular  in  this  service  is,  that  the  ten  command- 
ments are  solemnlj  read  by  the  Minister;  and  to  express 
the  greater  au thor 'ty,   as  pronouncing  them  in  the  name 
of  God,  he   does  it  sfandins;.     The  congregation  in  the 
mean  time  is  to  continue  kneeling;   not  that  the  com- 
mandments are  a  prayer,  (as  some   weak  people  fancy 
them  to  be;  nor  are  tl^ey  to  be  repeated  after  the  minis- 
ter, as  many  iji;norantly  do)   but  because  it  is  with  a  pe- 
culiar reverence  that  we  ought  to  hear  this  awful  declar- 
ation and  summary  of  God's  will,  and  of  our  duty,  in  the 
very  words  of  God  himself,  and  because  that  at  the  end 
of  each  commandment,  our  Church  has  piously  directed 
us  to  beg  the  mercy  of  God,  in  pardoning  what  we  have 
been  guilty  of  against  the  rule  of  that  commandment, 
and  his  grace  to  keep  it  better  for  the  future,   in  these 
words.  Lord  have  mercy  upon  us,  and  incline  our  hearts 
to  keep  this  law;  which  being  a  prayer,  ought  to  be  hum- 
bly ottered  upon  our  knees.     Be  Vv-ry   sorious   therefore 
when  the  commandments   are   read;  and   thirk,  as  the 
Minister  goes  along  in  every  one  of  them,  whether  you 
have  not  ottended  God,   by  thought,    word,  or  deed,  in 
something  cont-  ary  to  that  conunandment,   (lor  in  many 
things  we  all  offend,  as  the  Apostle  tells  us,  James  iii.  2. 
And  accordingly,  when  audibly  you  join  with  the  rest  of 
the  congregation  in  that  sho.t  prajer  which  follows  each, 
beg  pardon  of  God  'Aith  a  deep  and  true  repe'itiuice;  and, 
whether  your  conscience  accuse  you  or  not,  be  serious 
and  in  earnest,  when  you   beg  of  God  to  incline  your 
heart  to  keep  that  article  of  his  law,   and   to  write  the 
whole  upon  it  more  efflctuaiiy. 

Whenever  there  is  a  sermon  delivered,  you  should 
hear  it  with  meekness  and  reverence,  earnestly  begging 
God,  that  you  may  both  j  erceive  and  know  what  things 
you  ought  to  do,  "and  also  may  have  grace  and  power 
faithfully  to  fulfil  the  same. 


217 


The  Blessing  at  the  end  of  the  Communion  Service, 

This  part  of  the  service  concludes  with  a  blessing, 
(to  be  pronounced  by  the  Minister  alone,  and  not  to  be  ^ 
repeated  after  him)  which  is  in  these  words:  The  peace  of 
God,  which  passeth  all  understanding,  keep  your  hearts 
and  minds  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God,  and  of  his 
Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord;  and  the  blessing  of  Gob  Al- 
mighty, the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be 
amongst  you,  and  remain  with  you  always. 

After  the  blessing,  it  may  be  fit  to  continue  still  for 
some  time  upon  your  knees,  humbly  beseeching  Almighty 
God  to  pardon  what  he  has  seen  amiss  in  you  since  you 
came  into  his  presence;  and  graciously  to  hear  the  pray- 
ers, and  to  accept  of  the  praises  which  you  have  now 
offered  up  to  him,  through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
only  Mediator  and  Advocate. 


A  PRAYER 

At  our  first  entrance  into  the  Church. 

Lord,  I  am  now  in  thine  house;  assist,  I  pray  thee, 
and  accept  of  my  services.  Enable  me,  and  all  who 
shall  this  day  meet  in  thy  name,  to  worship  thee  in 
spirit  and  in  truth. 

Let  thy  holy  spirit  help  our  infirmities,  and  dispose 
our  hearts  to  seriousness,  attention,  and  devotion;  and 
grant  that  we  may  improve  this  opportunity  to  the  ho- 
nour of  thy  holy  iiaine,  and  the  benefit  of  our  souls, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen, 

A  PRAYER 

At  Church,  after  the  Service  is  ended* 

Blessed  be  thy  name,  O  Lord,  for  this  ©pportunity 
•f  attending  thee  in  thy  house  and  service. 
19 


218 

Grant  that  I,  and  all  that  profess  thy  name,  may  be 
doers  of  thy  word,  and  not  hearers  only,  pardon"  our 
wanderings  and  imperfections;  and  accept  both  us  and 
our  services,  through  our  only  Mediator  Jesus  Christ, 

Amen, 


APPENDIX* 

no.  I. 


The  Roman  Catholic  reliajion  is  built  upon  the  sup- 
position that  Peter  was  chosen  by  our  Lord  above  all 
the  Apostles,  and  made  chief  Bishop  or  Pope,  not  only 
of  Rome,  but  of  all  the  world;  that  he  has  transmitted 
to  the  Popes  of  Rome  by  succession,  this  great  prerof>;a- 
tive  of  being  the  Vicegprent  of  God,  with  power  to  par- 
don sins,  to  punish  transgressors  as  well  by  temporal  as 
by  spiritual  pains,  to  depose  princes,  and  to  absolve 
their  subjects  from  their  oaths  of  allegiance  to  heretical 
princes.  The  canon  law  of  the  Roman  Church  says, 
that  "if  the  Pope  were  so  M'icked  as  to  carry  with  him 
innumerable  people  by  troops  to  hell,  to  be  ''witli  him- 
self tormented  for  ever,  yet  no  mortal  man  must  presume 
here  to  reprove  his  fault",  because  he  is  judge  of  all,  and 
himself  to  be  judged  ot  none."  The  Divines  of  Jhat 
Church  speak  of  the  Pope  as  having  **an  incomprehen- 
sible power,  because  great  is  the  Lord,  and  great  is  his 
power,  and  of  his  greatness  there  is  no  end."  Again  he 
is  called  *'King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of  Lords." 

It  is  truly  surprising,  upon  what  slight  pretexts  these 
lofty  claims  are  founded.  The  whole  authority  that  is 
urged  tor  them  from  scripture  is,  the  declaration  of  our 
Lord  to  Peter,  Mark  xvi.  18.  "Thou  art  Peter,  and 
upon  this  rock  1  build  my  church."  If  common  sense 
was  not  sufficient  to  teach  us,  that  these  words  give  no 
authority  for  the  supremacy  of  Peter  and  his  successors, 
we  should  find  ample  evidence  of  the  fact  in  the  opin- 
ions of  the  fathers  and  tire  acts  of  councils.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  our  Lord  constantly  discouraged  the  idea  of 
any  pre-eminence  among  the  Apostles,  and  that  St. 
Peter  never  claimed  any.    At  the  council  of  Jerusalem, 


APPENDIX. 

St.  James,  and  not  St.  Peter,  pronounced  the  sentence 
of  the  assembly.  St.  Paul  on  a  certain  occasion  pub- 
iickly  reproved  Peter  before  ail,  because  he  was  to 
blame.  Galat.  ii.  12.  This  coulrl  not  have  been  permit- 
ted if  Peter  had  been  appointed  Pope  in  the  sense  now 
contended  for  by  Roman  Catholics.  Si,  Ambrose,  St. 
Austin,  and  Hieronimus  commentins:  on  the  text,  draw 
the  same  inference.  The  taiherss  sometimes  speak  of  a 
primacy  of  worth  or  merit,  on  account  of  the  aj;e,  or 
zeal,  or  elevation  by  which  Peter  was  distinguished; 
and  again  they  say  with  Chrysostom,  that  '*St.  Paul 
sheweth  that  each  Apostle  oid  enjf»y  equal  dignity." 
Accordingly  we  find  that  in  the  dift'erent  councils  Bish- 
ops from  different  sees  presided  Hosuis,  the  Bishop  of 
Corduba,  in  the  council  of  Sardeia,  Cvri!,  Bisliop  of 
Alexandria,  in  the  third  general  council  (^f  Ephesus,  and 
Constantine  the  Emperor  iti  the  council  of  Nice — the 
Bishop  of  Rome,  at  that  time,  neither  claiming,  nor  re- 
ceiving, any  precedence  whatevtr.  At  length,  how- 
ever, because  of  its  njore  powerful  principality,  Rome 
came  to  be  looked  up  to  with  some  deference,  and  her 
Bishop  began  to  ei.joy  a  proportionate  share  of  her 
dignity.  Cyprian  gives  this  reason  for  its  piecedence; 
"Because  Rome  for  its  magnitude  ou2;ht  to  precede  Car- 
thage." Ihis  is  the  sole  ground  upon  which  the  council 
of  Chalcedon  affirmed  the  pre-eminence  of  Rome;  "To 
the  throne  of  ancient  Rome,  because  that  was  the  Royal 
city,  the  fathers  reasonably  conterred  the  pnvileges." 
Upon  this  ground  the  Church  of  Constantinople  at  one 
time  claimed  the  supremucy,  and  wus  called  the  head  ot 
the  Churches.  Tiie  iViost  Holy  Church  of  thac  most 
religious  city,  the  mother  of  our  devotion,  and  of  all 
orthodox  Chribtians,  and  the  most  holy  see  of  that  impe- 
rial city."  In.p.  Leo.  cou.  lib.  1.  Tit  2.  §16.  Theo- 
dout  says,  that  "Antioch  was  the  most  ancient  and  truly 
Apostolical  Church."     'Iheod.  5.  9. 

These  facts  shew  that  the  papal  office  was  not  known 
in  the  primitive  Church.  It  so,  the  Church  of  Rome  as 
a  true  Church  falls  to  the  ground;  for  it  is  on  this  hypo- 
thesis that  the  infill libility  of  that  Church  rests,  and  on 


APPENDIX. 


221 


this  infallibility  the  whole  chain  of  her  rites,  ceremonies, 
and  doctrines  depends.  Many  of  these  she  does  not 
pretend  to  derive  from  scripture,  but  from  tradition  and 
the  authority  of  the  Church  which  are  paramount  to  them. 
The  Church  has  decreed,  and  the  Church  is  infallible, 
therefore  the  decree  is  ri2;ht  and  true.  This  is  the  great 
sword  that  cuts  every  Onrdian  knot,  and  removes  every 
difficulty  as  by  a  magic  wand.  Upon  this  principle,  her 
members  are  not  permitte<!  to  renounce  those  absurdities 
which  had  crept  info  tlie  Ci.'irch  in  the  dark  ages  of  the 
Morld,  when  any  thinjr  ^vas  ibe  more  likely  to  gain  belief 
in  proportion  to  its  incredibility.  Transubstantiation, 
the  worship  cf  the  Viroin  Mary  and  the  saints,  purgato- 
ry, and  many  other  articies  of  their  creed,  are  found  no 
where  in  scripture,  nor  in  the  councils  or  writings  of  the 
early  ages.  But  they  have  been  decteed  by  the  Church, 
and  that  is  enough.  Her  members  r 'e  taught  that  it  is 
sinful  to  doubt  what  has  been  thus  decreed,  and  there- 
fore, never  being  allowed  to  investigate  for  themselves, 
they  can  never  escape  from  the  tram'.iels  imposed  upon 
them  by  education  and  riveted  by  supe  stition. 

It  is  manifest  from  these  considerations,  that  the  Ro- 
man Church  is  not,  as  it  pietends  to  be,  the  oldest  church. 
Because  the  Roman  Church  was  Roman  Catholic  before 
the  time  of  the  reformation,  it  is  speciously  urg^d  by 
the  Romanists,  that  their's  is  the  oldest  religion.  It  is, 
indeed  older  than  the  reformation,  but  not  so  old  as 
primitive  Christianity.  Let  any  one  impartially  examine 
the  history  of  the  ancient  Church,  and  nothing  will 
strike  him  more  forcibly,  than  the  total  dissimilarity 
between  the  primitive  features  of  the  Church,  and  that 
system  now  dignified  with  the  name  of  The  Catholic 
Church,  Ask  the  defenders  of  that  Church  to  compare 
it  in  detail,  in  its  essential  characteristics,  with  the  pri- 
mitive model,  and  you  confound  them.  Upon  what  pre- 
tence, then,  can  they  claim  to  be  the  oldest  Church? 
We  in  fact,  by  being  able  to  prove  our  conformity  with 
the  ancient  Catholic  Church,  establish  our  claim  as  the 
oldest  Church,  exiled  into  the  wilderness,  indeed,  for  a 
19* 


22S 


APPExNDIX. 


season,  but  brought  forth  again  in  all  the  vigour  and 
glory  which  belonged  to  it  in  its  earliest  days.  At  the 
time  foretold  by  the  Apostle,  when  the  man  of  sin  should 
come  and  set  in  the  temple  of  God,  to  carry  on  the 
mystery  of  iniquity,  the  Church  of  Rome  became  Cath- 
olic or  universal,  by  blending  the  temporal  with  the  spir- 
itual sword,  and  subduing  by  force  and  authority  all 
Christendom  to  her  dominion.  From  that  time  she  cor- 
rupted the  simplicity  of  the  Apostolical  plan,  and  sub- 
stituted for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men,  until 
the  time  of  the  reformation,  by  which  event  the  intoler- 
able yoke  under  which  the  nations  had  groaned  so  long, 
was  thrown  oft',  and  men  were  permitted  to  restore  the 
Cliurch  to  its  priraev?!  form.  So  far  then,  from  the 
Church  of  Rome  beino  the  true  and  oldest  Church,  it  is 
the  farthest  removed  from  it  of  any  in  Christendom. 

"Babylon  (says  Tertullian)  m  our  St.  John,  is  a  type 
of  the  city  of  Rome,  and  therefore,  a  great  royal  and 
proud  city,  a  subduer  of  the  saints.'-* 

*  Tertull.  adv.  Jud.  cap.  9. 


APPENDIX. 

NO.  II. 


SUCCESSION  OF   AMERICAN  BISHOPS. 

1.  The  Right  Rev.  Samuel  ^'ca'^i/?'?/,  D.  D.  of  Connec- 
ticut, was  consecrated  at  Aberdeen,  in  Scotland,  No- 
vember 14,  1784,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Kils^our^  of 
Aberdeen.  The  Ri^ht  Rev.  Bi-ihop  PetHe,  of  Ross  and 
Moray,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Skinner^  coadjutor 
to  Bishop  Kilgour,  being  present  and  assisting. — Died 
February  25,  1796. 

2.  *  The  Right  Rev.  IVilliam  White,  D.  D.  of  Penn- 
sylvania, was  consecrated  in  the  chapel  of  the  Archi- 
episcopal  palace  at  Lambeth,  in  England,  on  Sunday, 
February  4,  1787,  by  the  Most  Rev.  John  Moore,  Lord 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  Most  Rev.  William 
Markham,  Lord  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Right  Rev, 
Charles  Moss,  Lord  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  the 
Right  Rev.  Jolm  Hinddlff,  Lord  Bishop  of  Peterborough, 
being  present  and  assisting. 

3.  The  Right  Rev.  Samuel  Provost,  D.  D.  of  New 
York,  was  consecrated  at  t'ne  same  time  and  place. — 
Died  September  6,  1815. 

4.  The  Right  Rev.  James  Madison,  D.  D.  of  Virginia, 
was  consecrated  in  the  Chapel  of  the  Archiepiscopal 
palace  at  Lambeth,  in  England,  on  Sunday,  September 
19,  1790,  by  the  Most  Rev.  John  Moore,  Lord  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  The  Right  Rev.  Beilby  Porteus, 
Lord  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  Right  Rev.  John 
Thomas,  Lord  Bishop  of  Rochester,  being  present  and 
assisting. — Died  JVlarch  6,  1812. 

5.  The  Right  Rev.  Thomas  J^lin  Claggett,  D.  D.  of 
Maryland,  was  consecrated  in  Trinity  Church,  in  the 


224  APPENDIX. 

city  of  New  York,  on  Monday,  September  17,  1792,  by 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Provost^  of  New  York,  presiding 
Bishop.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Seabury,  of  Connecti- 
cut, the  Riajht  Rev.  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Madison,  of  Virgjinia,  being  pre- 
sent and  assisting. — Died  August  2,  1816. 

6.  The  Riirht  Rev.  JRobert  Smith,  D.  U.  of  South  Car- 
olina, was  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  on  Sunday,  September  13,  1795,  by  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  presiding 
Bishop.  The  Rig  it  Rev.  Bishop  Provost,  of  New  York, 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  MaHson,  of  Virginia,  and  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  Cln^geft,  of  Maryland,  being  present 
and  assistino;.  —  Died  (Jctober  28.  1801 

7.  The  Right  Rev  Z^^/w;r.'?Y/ ^^/ss,  D.  I),  of  Massachu- 
setts, was  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  May  7,  1797,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
White,  of  Pennsylvania.  Tlie  Right  Rev.  B  shop  Pro- 
vost, of  New  York,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Claggett, 
of  Maryland,  being  present  and  assisting. — Died  Sep- 
tember 10,  1803. 

8.  The  Right  Rev.  Abraham  Jarvis,  D.  D.  of  Con- 
necticut, was  consecrated  in  Trinity  ('hurch,  in  the  city 
of  New  Haven,  on  Wednesday,  October  IS,  1797,  by 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  Provost,  of  New  York,  and  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Bass,  of  Massachusetts,  being  present  and 
assisting.— Died  May  3,  18! 3. 

9.  The  Right  Rev.  Benjamin  Bloore,  D.  D.  of  New 
York,  was  consecrated  in  Jit.  Michael's  Church,  in  the 
city  of  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  on  Friday,  September  11, 
1801,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  ffVu'/V,  of  Pennsylvania, 
presiding  Bishop.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  C/aggett,  of 
Maryland,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Jarvis,  o\  Connec- 
ticut, being  present  and  assisting. — Died  February  27, 
1816. 

10.  The  Right  Rev.  Samuel  Parker,  D.  D.  of  Massa- 
chusetts, was  consecrated  in  Trinity  Church,  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  on  Friday,  September  14,  1804,  by  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  presiding 


APPENDIX.  525 

Bishop.  The  RiMU  Rev.  llUh'^p  Clrfsr^fff,  of  ^Taryland, 
the  Ri»ht  Rev  Bh\\o\)  Jarvis.  of  Connecticut,  and  the 
Right  Rpv.  Bishop  Moore,  of  New  York,  being  present 
and  assistino;. — Died  December  6,  1804. 

11.  *The  Right  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart,  D.  D.  of 
New  York,  was  consecrated  in  Trinity  Church,  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  on  Wednesday,  May  29,  1811,  by 
the  Right  Rev.  Bis'iop  ■■'F'liite^  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  Provost,  of  N^vv  V.»rk,  and  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Jaruis,  of  Connecticut,  being  present  and 
assisting. 

12.  *■  The  K\^htRev,  ^dlexander  Viets  Griswold,T>,D, 
of  the  Eastern  Diocese,  composed  of  the  States  of  Maine, 
Massachusetts,  lihode  Island,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ver- 
mont, was  consf'crate*!  at  tne  sanie  time  and  place. 

13.  'ihe  /-light  Rev.  Theodore  Dehon,  D.  D.  of  South 
Carolina,  was  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  t»n  Thursday,  October  lo,  1812,  by  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  IF/iife,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Jarvts,  of  Connecticut,  and  the  Right  Rev. 
Bishop  Hobart,  of  New  York,  being  present  and  assist- 
ing.— Died  August  6,  1 8 1'. 

14.  *  The  Right  Kev.  Richard  Charming  Moore,  D.D. 
of  Virginia,  was  consecrated  in  St.  James'  Church,  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  VVednesday,  May  18,  18 14, 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  tVhite^  of  Pennsylvania,  pre- 
siding Bishop.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hobm%  of  New 
York,  the  Right  Rev.  iiishop  Griswold,  of  the  Eastern 
Diocese,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Dehon,  of  South 
Carolina,   being  present  aa(i  assisting. 

15.  ihe  Right  Rev.  James  Kemp,  D.  D.  of  Maryland, 
was  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,  m  the  city  of  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  on  Thursday,  September  1, 
1814,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  PVhite^  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  Right  Rev.  Biiihop  Hobart^  of  New  York,  and  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  Moore,  of  Virginia,  being  present  and 
assisting. — Died  October  26,  1627'. 

16.  *  The  Right  Rev.  John  Croes,  D.  D.  of  New  Jer- 
sey, was  consecrated  in  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  the  city 
of  Philadeiptiia,  on  Sunday,  November  19,  1815,  by  the 


£26  APPEKDIX. 

Right  Tiev.  Bishop  JVhite^  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Ri}>ht 
Rev.  Bishop  Hohart^  of  New  York," and  the  Ri^ht  Rev. 
Bishop  Kemp,  of  Maryland,  being;  present  and  assisting. 

17.  *  The  Right  Rev.  iVa^/i«me/ .Bozf;en,  D.D.  of  South 
Carolina,  was  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  on  Thursday,  October  8,  1818,  by  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Hobart,  of  New  York,  the  Right  Rev. 
Bishop  Kemp^  of  Maryland,  and  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Croes,  of  New  Jersey,  being  present  and  assisting. 

13.  *  The  Right  Rev  Philander  Chase,  D.  D.  of  Ohio, 
was  consecrated  in  St.  James  Church,  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  on  Thursday,  February  11,  1819,  by  the 
Right  Rev.  Bishop  ffhife,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Hobart,  (A'^ew  York,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
Kemp,  of  Maryland,  and  the  Rijiht  Rev.  Bishop  Croes, 
of  New  Jersey,  being  present  and  assisting. 

19.  *  The  Right  Rev.  Thomas  Church  Brownell,  D. 
D.  L.  L.  D.  of  Connecticut,  was  consecrated  in  Trinity 
Church,  in  the  city  of  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  on 
"Wednesday,  October  27,  1819,  by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
White,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  Right  Rev.  hi  shop  Hobart, 
of  New  York,  and  the  Right  Rev  Bishop  Griswold,  of 
the  Eastern  Diocese,  being  present  and  assisting. 

20.  *  The  Right  Rev.  John  Stark  Ravenscroft,  D.  D. 
of  North  Carolina,  was  consecrated  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
in  t!ie  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  Thursday,  May  22,  1823, 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  IVhite,  of  Pennsylvania,  pre- 
siding Bishop.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Griswold,  of 
the  Eastern  Diocese,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Kemp,  of 
Maryland,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Croes,  ot  New  Jersey, 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Bowen,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Brownell,  of  Connecticut,  being 
present  and  assisting. 

21.  *The  Rii^ht  Rev.  Henry  Uslick  Onderdonk,  D.D. 
of  Pennsylvania,  was  consecrated  in  Christ  Church,- in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  on  I  hursday,  October  25,  1827, 
by  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  White,  of  Pennsylvania,  pre- 
siding Bishop.  The  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Hobart,  of  New 
York,  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Kemp,  of  Maryland,  the 


APPENDIX.  %^ 

Right  Rev.  Bishop  Croes^  of  New  Jersey,  and  the  Right 
Rev.  Bishop  Boiven,  of  South  Carolina,  being  present 
and  assisting. 

This  mark  *  designates  the  present  members  of  the 
House  of  Bishops. 


APPENDIX. 

KO.  III. 


Those  who  deny  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  profess 
to  do  it  upon  an  al'e'igHj  zeal  for  the  unity  of  God; 
and  by  the  name  which  they  assume,  desire  evidently  to 
be  considered  as  the  only  persons  who  maifif-vii  this 
great  truth.  But  those  who  hold  the  doctri.  e  of  the 
Trinity  do,  in  the  strongest  sense,  concur  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  unity  of  God.  The)-  maintain,  as  a  fundamental 
truth  which  is  to  regulate  and  modify  their  belief  in  a 
trinity  of  persons,  that  there  is  one  only  eternal  and 
infinite  God.  And,  though  they  pretend  not  to  explain 
or  comprehend  the  consistency  of  this  plurality  of  per- 
sons with  this  unity  of  nature,  they  nevertheless,  in  the 
most  unequivocal  manner,  admit  and  affirm  it. 

But  though  God  is  one,  yet  he  has  revealed  himself 
under  three  dift'erent  characters  and  titles.  The  precise 
nature  of  the  distinction  here  implied  is  not  described 
in  scripture;  nor,  perhaps,  is  it  conceivable  by  fallen 
man.  The  word  "person'*  has  been  agreed  upon  as  serv- 
ing to  expresb  this  distinction.  And  this  term  is  per- 
haps, as  eligible  as  any  other,  whilst  it  is  understood 
not  to  Convey  any  real  idea  of  the  nature  of  this  dis- 
tinction, but  merely  to  affirm  that  it  exists,  and  is  not 
confined  to  a  distinction  of  mere  titles  or  attributes. 

As  to  the  argument  drawn  against  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  from  its  mysteriousness,  it  may  be  replied,  that 
any  revelation  respecting  the  divine  nature,  if  in  any  de- 
gree minute,  might  have  been  anticipated  to  involve  some 
points  far  beyond  our  comprehension.  For  with  what 
are  we  familiar,  which  is  beyond  the  ran^e  of  our  senses? 
"When  we  attempt  to  speak  even  of  tne  operations  of 
tQr  own  mind,  we  are  iayolred  in  inexplicable  difficnl 


APPENDIX.  2£9 

ties.  We  cannot  form  the  slightest  conception  of  the 
manner  in  which  spiritual  beings  exist  at  all,  much  less 
the  manner  in  which  they  can  communicate  their  ideas 
and  feelings  without  material  organs.  As  it  regards  the 
Divine  nature,  it  is  no  more  probable  that  we  should 
comprehend  it,  than  that  an  animal  of  the  very  lowest 
order  should  comprehend  and  delineate  the  faculties  of 
man.  Such  indeed  is  the  obscurity  in  which  the  Divine 
nature  is  necessarily  involved,  that  it  matters  little  what 
terms  are  employed  by  us  to  describe  it.  Change  the 
terms,  yet  the  obscurity  remains.  Human  language  is 
too  indigent  to  convey,  human  conceptions,  too  weak  to 
receive,  adequate  impressions  on  such  a  subject.  But 
it  still  remains  true,  that  though  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  is  mysterious  and  above  our  reasons,  it  is  not 
contrary  to  our  reason.  And  this  is  a  most  important 
distinction.  We  do  not  affirm  that  there  are  more  Gods 
than  one,  or  that  God  is  one  and  three  in  the  same 
sense.  We  do  not  say  that  any  principle  or  nature  is 
one,  and  at  the  same  time  three  natures  or  principles. 
This  would  be  contrary  to  reason.  But  this  we  say,  and 
we  say  it  on  the  ground  of  reason,  and  without  fear  of 
contradicting  any  known  principles  of  reasoning  that 
there  is  one  Eternal  and  incomprehensible  Being;  that 
he  has  represented  Himself  to  us  in  the  scriptures  un- 
der three  distinct  persons  of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost;  that  each  ttiree  distinct  persons  exercise  and 
claim  severally  all  the  prerogatives,  attributes,  and 
honours  of  Divinity;  and  that  these,  nevertheless,  con- 
stitute but  one  Divine  B3ing,  concentering  in  Himself 
all  this  fulne&s  of  the  Godhead  bodily.  We  confess  with 
the  Apostle,  that  great  is  this  mystery  of  GoJI'ness. 
Who  by  searchin^i;  can  find  out  God?  Such  know- 
ledge is  too  wonderful  for  us;  it  is  high,  we  cannot 
attain  unto  it.  If  this  be  an  objection,  it  is  ^ne  which 
applies  to  the  simplest  ideas  we  can  form  of  God.  Can 
we  explain  how  it  is  that  he  subsists  from  everlast- 
ing to  everlasting,  without  beginning  or  end?  Can  we 
comprehend  the  infinitude  of  space?  Can  we  explain 
20 


530  APPENDIX. 

the  laws  of  that  union  which  subsists  between  soul  anS 
body?  We  are  confounded  even  by  an  atom.  There 
wilf  be  difficulties  upon  every,  hypothesis  that  can  be 
adopted.  And  we  allege  that  there  are  far  greater  diffi- 
culties in  the  scheme  of  those  who  reject  the  divinity  of 
the  Son  of  God,  than  in  any  otht  •.  If  he  be  not  God, 
what,  we  may  aj^k,  is  He?  Clear!  v  not  an  ano;el?  Scrip- 
ture ascribes  to  him  none  but  D  vine  attributes.  Some, 
to  get  clear  of  the  difficultv,  ?•  ?ak  of  him  as  an  attri- 
bute of  God.  But  then  what  beromes  of  the  passages 
describing:  his  personality,  and  even  distinguishing  him 
from  the  Father?  To  show  the  absurdity  of  this  idea, 
it  is  otily  necessary  to  substitute  for  the  name  given  him 
in  scripture,  the  name  of  attribute.  Others,  in  the  hope 
of  escapir>g  these  difficulties,  have  reduced  the  Saviour  to 
the  rank  of  a  man.  But  what  difficulties  have  these  not 
to  encounter?  What  violence  of  criticism,  what  forced 
interpretations,  what  perversion  of  doubtful  passages  and 
denial  of  plain  ones,  have  they  not  been  compelled  to  em- 
ploy? If,  indeed,  all  difficulty  could  be  escaped  by  any 
particular  theory,  then,  (although  its  very  clearness  would 
be  suspicious)  it  mi}>.ht  be  worthy  of  attention.  But, 
hitherto,  all  objections  to  the  orthodox  doctrine,  if  they 
have  shifted  or  eluded  the  difficulty,  have  never  removed 
it.  The  recesses  of  the  divine  nature  constitute  a  depth 
that  we  have  no  eye  to  measure,  and  no  line  to  fathom; 
and  he  who  rashly  presumes  upon  his  own  powers  to  do 
it,  sinks  from  one  abyss  of  error  and  confusion  to  an- 
other.* It  is  on  the  ground  of  scripture  alone  that  we 
can  hope  to  find  firm  tooting.  Let  us  reverently  apply 
ourselves  to  the  study  ot  that  and  we  shall  not  fail  to 
see  in  every  page  of  it,  that  he  who  redeemed  us  by  his 
blood,  is  he  who  made  the  worlds,  even  God  overall, 
blessed  for  ever.  A  few  references  of  scripture  are  here 
subjoined,  in  order  to  shew  that  the  scriptures  ascribe  to 

♦See  an  excellent  sermon  of  Veron  on  Matthew  28.  19,  from 
which  some  of  the  foregoiiii,^  remarks  have  been  abridged.— 
Horsley's  tracts,  Jones  on  the  1  rinity.  Professor  Stuart's  and 
Wood's  LtUers,  and  Dr.  lyiiller's  Letters. 


APPENDIX.  231 

him  all  the  attributes  of  Deity.  Let  no  man  by  words 
of  enticing;  wisdom  rob  you  of  the  hope  which  the  di- 
vinity of  the  Saviour  bestows;  for  as  in  him  all  the  ful- 
ness of  the  Godhead  bquily  dwells,  and  as  the  Father 
has  given  to  him  the  government  of  his  mediatorial  king- 
dom, and  required  all  to  honour  the  Son  even  as  they 
honour  the  Father,  (John  v.  23,)  they  who  reject  his 
divine  chara  ler,  and  siumble  at  that  stone  of  otFence, 
are  in  danger  of  falling  to  rise  no  more.  "He  that  be- 
lieveth  not  the  Sun,  shall  not  see  life;  but  the  wrath  of 
God  abidetii  on  him." 

Unitarians  and  Socinians  are  so  divided  among  them- 
selves, and  from  each  other,  and  assume,  perpetually, 
such  protean  shapes,  that  it  is  impossible  to  ijive  an  ac- 
curate outline  of  their  belief.  They  seem  to  agree  in 
nothing  but  the  determination  to  disbelieve,  and  it  is 
easier  to  state  what  they  do  not  believe  than  to  make  out 
fairly  what  they  da  believe.  In  the  first  place  they  deny 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ:  most  of  them  do  this  with- 
out any  qualification,  or  reserve;  but  there  are  some, 
who,  when  pressed  upon  this  point  in  public,  disavow  any 
such  denial,  and  charge  Trinitarians  with  unfairness  in 
making  the  accusation.  But  press  them  again  into  a  defini- 
tion of  what  they  mean  by  the  divinity  of  the  Saviour,  and 
they  explain  it  as  being  the  divinity  of  his  mission.  He  is 
our  Saviour  in  the  same  sense  that  General  Washington 
was  the  saviour  of  his  country,  and  by  a  metonymical 
figure,  the  divinity  ot  his  mission  is  transferred  to  himself. 
Such  has  been  the  reasoning  of  several  among  them  who 
are  esteemed  by  their  own  body  as  champions  of  their 
cause.  But  who  does  not  see  the  disingenuousness  of 
such  a  subterfuge?  Their  books  are  full  of  the  most  un- 
equivocal declarations,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  divine 
personage.  Dr.  Priestly  declares,  that  the  Apostles  had 
no  other  ideas  of  Christ,  than  that  "he  was  a  man  like 
themselves."  Mr.  Belaham,  the  great  oracle  of  Unita- 
rians says,  "the  Unitarian  Doctrine  is,  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  a  man  couatituted  in  all  respects  like  other 
men,  subject  to  the  same  infirmities,  the  same  ignorance, 
prejudices,  and  frailties;"  and  that  there  can  be  no  pro 


23%  APPENDIX. 

per  foundation  for  religious  addresses  to  Jesus,  nor  of 
gratitude  lov  favours  now  received,  nor  yet  of  confidence 
in  his  future  i  tterposition  in  our  behalf."  Hov^r  all  this 
can  bf  made  to  consist  with  the  divinity  of  Christ,  the 
wit  and  nietonymical  adroitness  of  others  must  deter- 
mine. 

They  deny  also  the  personality  and  agency  of  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit.  **'rne  distinct,  personal  existence  of  the  Ho- 
ly Spirit,  (says  Mr.  Belsham)  is  abandoned  by  every 
person  who  has  paid  much  attention  to  the  phraseology 
of  the  scriptures." 

Dr.  Ware,  on  the  part  of  Cambridge  university,  in 
his  answer  tc  professor  Wood,  denies  the  eternity  of 
future  punishment.  In  short,  the  principle  upon  which 
they  explain  scripture  is  the  same  as  th;;t  upon  which 
Deists  construct  their  system. —  They  take  the  bible  just 
as  far  as  it  corresponds  with  their  notions  of  propriety, 
and  no  f^irthei. —  The  Deists  do  not  object  to  the  same. 
This  principle  of  exegesis  by  which  they  explain  the  scrip- 
tures, has  led  almost  all  the  Unitarians  of  Germany  into 
open  infidelity,  and  it  is  working  the  same  effect  in  this 
country.  In  fact,  Mr  Belsham  speaking  of  the  Deistical 
philanthropists  of  France,  says,  **their  professed  prin- 
ciples comprehend  the  essence  of  the  Christian  religion." 
And  this  congeniality  is  abundantly  manifested  in  the 
fact,  that  in  every  place  where  the  Unitarian  standard 
is  raised,  almost  every  Deist  in  the  vicinity  rallies  around 
it,  glad  to  find  a  system  prepared  for  them  in  which  they 
can  be  Christians  on  their  own  terms.  No  argument 
can  be  more  conclusive  against  any  system  pretending 
to  be  drawn  from  the  bible,  than  that  it  is  thus  found  to 
harmonize  with  the  views,  the  feelings,  th^  conduct  and 
the  hopes  of  such  people  as  generally  are  found  ready 
to  swell  the  ranks  of  Unitarianism.  W^here  the  pure 
Gospel  is  preached,  it  will  be  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  Deists  and  ungodly  men  among  others;  but 
then  they  must  leave  their  infidelity  and  ungodliness  and 
renounce  their  lusts.  Until  they  do  this,  they  will  hate 
the  light  that  comes  to  enlighten  them.  That  they  still 
continue  in  their  infidelity  and  their  sins,  and  yet  ap- 


APPRNDIX.  i233 

prove  the  gospel  that  is  preached  to  them,  is  proof 
demonstrative,  that  it  is  another  gospel  than  that  of  a 
crucified  Saviour.  And  in  that  case,  the  Apostle  tells 
us  that,  **if  any  man  preach  any  other  gospel  let  him  be 
accursed,"  **go  ye  not  after  them,  for  many  will  come 
(says  our  Lord,)  saying  lo,  here  is  Christ,  or  there,  inso- 
much that,  if  it  were  possible,  they  shall  deceive  the 
very  elect.  Go  ye  not  after  them.  Bid  them  not  Gob 
speed,  for  he  that  biddeth  them  God  speed,  is  partaker 
of  their  evil  deeds.  "* 

*  Matthew,  xxiv.  23.     2  John  7.  10,  11.     Gal  1.  8,  9. 


TEXTS  OF  SCRIPTURE, 

PROVING 

1.     TJmt  Christ  is  the  Creator  of  all  things. 

John  i.  3.  10.     Coloss.  i.  16.     Heb.  i.  10.  *  1  Cor.  viii.  6. 

2.     That  he  presei-veth  andupholdeth  all  things. 

Coloss.  i.  17.     Heb.  i.  3. 

3.     That  he  is  the  governor  of  all  things. 

Heb.  i.  8.     Isaiah  ix.  6,  7.      Daniel  vii,  13,  14.     Acts  x.  36. 

Philipp.  ii.  9,  11.     Matthew  xxviii.  18.     Rev.   i.    17,   18— iii.  7. 

Eph.  i.  20.     1.  Cor.  xv.  25.     Psalms  11.  xxii.  and  ex.  i.  viii.  5. 

Rev.  xix.  2,  xvii.  14.     1  Tim.  vi.  15.     Col.  ii.  10. 

4.      That  he  giveth  and  restoreth  life. 

John  li.  43.    John  v.  21.    1  Cor.  xv.  45.     John  x.  17,  IB— v.  28. 

5.     That  he  forgiveth  sins. 

Matthew  rx.  2,  7.     Coloss.  iii.  13.     Acts  vii.  59,  60. 

6.     That  he  will  Judge  the  world  and  give  unto  his  people 

eternal  life. 
John  V.  22.     Matthew  xxv.     John  v.  27,  28.     Rev.  iii.  5, 

7.     That  all  the  attributes  of  God  are  ascribed  to  him. 
1.     Eternity. 
Rev.  i.  8,  17,  18.    Isaiah  xliv.  6.    Proverbs  viii.  22,  23.     Micak 
V.  2.     John  i.  1,  2.     John  viii.  58. 

2.  Omnipotence. 
Rev.  i.  8.     Math,  xxviii.  18. 

3.  Omniscience. 

John  xxi.  17.     Rev.  ii.  23.     John  ii.  24.     Luke  vi.  8. 

A.     Omnipresence. 

Matt,  xviii.  20.     xxviii.  20. 

5.     Immutahility. 

Heb.  xiii.  8.     i.  10. 

6.     He  is  called  God. 

John  i.  1.     Rom.  ix.  5.     1   Tim.  iii.    16.     M'att.  i.  23.     Heb.  i. 

8,  9.  Rev.  xxi.  5,  7,    John  xx.  28.     1  John  v.  20.     Acts  xx.  28. 


APPENDXX.  *  .^55 

7.     Mighty  God. 

Isaiah  ix.  6.     See  Dwig-ht,  iii.  vol.  page  6o. 

8.     Wise  God. 

Jude  xxiy.  25.     See  Jones,  p.  73. 

9.     The  L&rd  God. 

Compare  Rev.  xxi.  6,  with  v.  16. 

10.     Divine  worship  paid  to  Him, 

John  V.  22,  23.     Philipp.  ii.  9,   11.     Isaiah  vi.     1  Thess.  iii.  11, 

12.     2  Thess.  ii.   16,  17.     2  Cor.  xii.  8.     Acts  ix.  14.     1  Cor. 

i.  1.     2  Tim.  ii.  22.    Rom.  x.  12.     Rev.  v.  13— vii.  9,     Heb.  i.  6. 

When  the  Jews  charged  it  upon  him  that  he  made  himself 
God,  he  did  not  coiTect  the  idea,  John  v.  17,  18 — x,  30.  The 
Heathens  too  bear  testimony  of  the  early  Christians,  that  they 
sang-  hymns  to  Christ  as  God.  And  accordingly  his  Divinity  was 
universally  believed  by  the  whole  primitive  Church. 


FINIS. 


Date  Due 

.  ^tftiN&^^'i^ 

,.«,*.«*—- 

-       A.  <.^  k.-,>--,u 

»»»- 

..jBpawas^^.- 

'  ,Mi/m.iet^>ifit^.i^^ 

r 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

mX      f 

PRINTED 

IN  U.  S.  A. 

EL 

HOP 

|RIG0[0ECK[| 


Pnnceton  Theological  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01016  5639 


.1 


w 


11 


■h;'; 


si 


